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Oaks — Part 15

Exotic Oaks in American Gardens.--English oak (Quercus Robur) is the only oak native to the British Isles. It is the patriarch of the forest, noblest in any company of trees, fostered in its youth, cherished and revered in its old age, depended upon in its prime for its valuable products. The Briton to-day is as fervent a tree worshipper as his Druid ancestors were, but his love for the oak is stripped of superstition and tempered by intelligence. He is a practical man, and while he cherishes the gnarled oaks that adorn his private grounds and public parks, he has his oak forests for timber as his grain fields for bread. Sense and sentiment are both strong in him, but there is a proper balance between them.

The English oak is by no means confined to England. It is found all over Europe, where in earlier times it formed extensive forests. It is known in two forms, sessiliflora and pedunculata, varieties dependent upon the absence or presence of stalks of flower and fruit. With age these trees increase in breadth, more than in height, grow stout in trunk and limb, and the branches become extravagantly gnarled and twisted. The prevailing belief as to the age of these oaks is expressed in Dryden's lines:

"Three centuries he grows, and three he stays

Supreme in state; and in three more decays."

There are trees still hale in England to-day which were old enough to cut for their lumber when William the Conqueror landed in 1066. Scientists estimate the limit of longevity among oaks at about 2,000 years.

The British oak grows indifferently in the United States except in California. Here it finds conditions most favourable and grows with great rapidity and vigour. Acorns planted in 1878 were grown into large trees in 1890--to the amazement of everybody.

The Holm Oak (Quercus Ilex), which skirts the Mediterranean coast of Europe, and seems to thrive best, even in England, when exposed to sea breezes, is the Ilex, famous in classical literature. Its evergreen leaves resemble those of the holly, whose generic name is Ilex. This is one of the most ornamental of the oaks, compact and regular in form, and beautiful in its glossy foliage the year round. Its acorns form one of the important edible sorts in Europe. The value of its mast alone would justify the planting of the Holm oak. It is also one of the truffle oaks, and its bark and the galls of one of its varieties are of the highest value in dyeing and tanning.

Turkey Oak (Quercus cerris), of Europe, is planted in our Southern States. It has somewhat the form and symmetry of the beech in its lusty youth. Its foliage is dark, with greyish linings; the acorn 1 1/2 inches long, with a large mossy cup that halfway swallows it. This is the "wainscot oak" of English builders.

Japanese and Chinese oaks feel at home in the Eastern States of America, and are now coming in, to the enrichment of our horticulture and the delight of landscape gardeners. The crispness and vigour of the foliage make these trees strikingly handsome. Quercus variabilis has leathery, dark green chestnut-like leaves, with white woolly linings. Quercus dentata, with toothed margins, in one variety cut into narrow fingers almost to the midrib, is notable for the size of its leathery, lustrous leaves. They are often a foot in length. Another Japanese favourite is Quercus glandulifera, a half-evergreen shrub, whose chestnut-like leaves are set with glandular teeth. This is half hardy when planted in New England.