t' 5-

■Pa

.^^Xd ~ ^^v.

^ortlj Jmcritim 3\}M;

OR, A DESCUII'TIIIN OF THE

FOREST TREES

OF TIIK

UNITED STATES, CANADA, AND NOVA SCOTIA.

CONSIDERED PAKTICLL

WITH RESPECT TO THEIR USE IN THE ARTS AND THEIR
INTRODUCTION INTO COMMERCE.

TO WHICH IS ADDED

A DESCRIPTION OF THE MOST USEFUL OF THE

EUROPEAN FOREST TREES.

ILLUSTRATED BY 156 COLOKED ENGKAVIN08.

TEANSLATED FROM THE FRENCH OP

Fr^'ANDREW MICHAUX, m ^ - ' ^^^

MEMBER OP TOE PHILOSOPHICAL SOCIETY OF PHILADELPHIA, ETC. ETC.

WITH NOTES BY J. JAY SMITH,

EDITOR OF THE HORTICULTURIST, MEMBER OF THE ACADEMI OF NATURAL SCIENCES, ETC.

IN THREE VOLUMES.
VOL. I.

PHILADELPHIA:
PUBLISHEn BY RICE, RUTTER & CO.,

No. 5'2;j MINOR STREET.
1865.

Entered according to Act of Congjess, in tlio year 1SC5, l>y

RICE, KUTTER 4 CO.,

in tlie Clerk's Office of tlie District Court of the United States for the Eastern District of
I'enusylvauia.

COLLINS, PRINTER

SAMUEL GEORGE MORTON, M.D.,

PRESIDENT OF THE ACADEMY OF NATURAL SCIENCES, PHILADELPHIA,

^Ijis OEbition

MICIIAITX'S IsTORTn AJMERICAE" SYLVA

IS AFFECTIONATELY INSCRIBED

BY HIS FRIEND AND BROTIIEK,

J. JAY SMITH.

PREFACE TO THE EDITION OF 1857.

The Philadelphia editions of this important work have had a wide
circulation in the several States of the Union, proving how exten-
sively the taste of the public is turned to the study of Arboriculture.
The whole of the sheets of the last imprint were destroyed by a iire
at the bindery, whither they had been sent for collation ; but for-
tunately the original French copper-plates were in another building.
This has enabled the new publishers to issue the work in a much
improved style, and has allowed op)portuuity for additional notes and
remarks. These might have been more extended; but it was thought
best not to swell the work beyond a reasonable charge.

Issued as it is in connection with Nuttall's continuation, the whole
forms a work of reference of unrivalled interest and beauty.

The period which has elapsed between the editions has taken from
us the individuals to whom the public is indebted for the lucid
descriptions here reprinted. F. Andi-e Michaux died in Paris in
November, 1855. Dr. Samuel George Morton also paid the debt of
nature on the 15th of May, 1851, aged fifty-two years, beloved and
lamented by a large circle of friends. Thus pass away the admirers
of nature's works: even

"Ai't, Gloi-y, Freedom, fail; but
Nature still is fair." — Byron.

J. J. s.

[Note. — When Michaux wrote, Louisiana included all the ten'itory west of the Mississippi,
excepting Texas and New Mexico and the territory west of the Rocky Mountains. This is
BO well known that it has not been thought necessary to alter the test in any instance where
■that State is mentioned.]

P 11 E F A C E.

The foundation of the ISTortli American Sylva was laid liy the hxho-
rious researches of the ekler Michaux; who, under the auspices of
the French Government, devoted ten years, from 1785 to 1796, to a
thorough exploration of the country, from the sunny sub-tropical
groves of Florida to the cold and inhospitable shores of Hudson's
Bay; repeatedly visiting all the higher peaks and deepest recesses of
the Alleghany Mountains, and extending his toilsome journeys west-
ward to the prairies of Illinois and the banks of the Mississippi. He
proposed to Mr. Jefterson, then Secretary of State, to extend his
researches to Oregon, but was prevented from doing so by iintoward
circumstances.

Soon after his return to France, and the year before he fell a victim
to scientific zeal upou the coast of Madagascar, the elder Michaux
published his history of North American Oaks, which may be deemed
the nucleus of this more comprehensive work, subsequently issued
by his son, who accompanied his father in the earlier portions of his
travels. Revisiting this country in 1801, and again in 1807, the sou
made the extended and toilsome researches of which these volumes
are the result : they were first published in Paris, in 1810-13.

They were translated into English by Hiilhouse, and printed \n
Paris with French types, in 1819. This edition has been long since
exhausted; the second English edition was produced at !N^ew Har-
mony, Indiana, but was carelessly executed on very inferior paper,
though, like the present, the engravings were printed from the original
copper-plates partly engraved by the celebrated Rcdoute, which had
been brought from Paris by the liberal friend of education and
science, the late William McClure, with a view of making the work
more generally known among the American people. His brother and
executor, Alexander McClure, Esq., of New Harmony, still keeping
in view the future utility to the comnmuity of these expensive engrav-
ings, presented them to the late Dr. Samuel George Morton, successor
of William McClure in the Presidency of the Academy of Natural

Sciences of Philadelphia.

I.-1* 9

10 PRE F A C E.

Ill imssiiiir tliis cditidii tliruii^-li tin' pi-e^s, f liavc not thoiiirlit it
advisable to iiial<i' extensive alterations in tlie text, but have left it,
with some eonections in tlie translation, as it was written by its dis-
tinguished author, adding a few observations on soil, jiropagation,
iV<-. &e. These additions may always be distinguished by their
being enrlosed in lirackcts. For corrections of Ilillhouse's ti-ansla-
tion, and in other ]iarticnlars, I cannot liut acknowledge my great
indebtedness to my fiiend Thomas Forrest Betton, M.l)., of (ierman-
town, I'ennsylvania.

An improvement in the work would have consisted in rearranging
the plates according to the demands of modern Science and nomen-
clature; but this would have required the renumbering of them, and
thus all the numerous references to these in other books would luive
been erroneous and confused.

It was a singular circumstance, and a happy one it has proved for
advancing science, that Mr. Xuttall arrived in this country tlie very
year that the younger Michaux left it. From that time he devoted
liis talents to Botany, and after visiting a large portion of the United
States, with an aptitude for observation, a quickness of eye, tact in
discrimination, and tenacity of memory, rarely possessed by one
man, he published his extended and most happily-executed botanical
work, the "Genera of Xorth American Plants." In 1834 be crossed
the Rocky Mountains and explored the territory of Oregon and
Upper California. With his peculiar qualifications, he prepared the
supplement to Michaux's Sylva, in three handsome volumes, corre-
sponding in size with the present, the publication of which, after
many delaj-s, was completed in 184'J, by my son, in I'hiladelphia.
The two works are now one and homogeneous, the former most
highly valued by all lovers of trees, and the latter destined to bo
equally so, when the tine products of our newly-acquired Western
regions make their way to our gardens and yilantations.

The frequent references I have made to Mr. Xuttall's volumes will
show the reader that his additions to our Sylva are both extensive
and important ; inspection will convince him that both authors stand
on the highest pedestal of merit.

J. JAY SMITH.

CONTENTS OF VOLUME FIRST.

White Oak Quercus alba 22

Common European Oiik Quercus rohur 30

European White Oak Quercus pedunculata 32

Mossy-Cup Oak Quercus oJiva'formis 33

Over-Cup White 0:ik Quercus maerocarpa 35

Post Oak Quercus ohtusiloha 36

Over-Cup Oak Quercus lyrata 39

Swamp White Oak Quercus prinus discolor 41

Chestnut White Oak Quercus prinus palustris 44

Rock Chestnut Oak Quercus prinus nionticola 46

Yellow Oak Quei'cus prinus acuminata 49

Small Chestnut Oak Quercus prinus chincapin 50

Live Oak Quercus vii-ens 52

Cork Oak Quercus suber 55

Willow Oak Quercus phellos 58

Laurel Oak. Quercus imbricaria 60

Upland Willow Oak Quercus cinerea 61

Running Oak Quercus pumila 63

Bertram Oak Querciis heterophijlla 64

Water Oak Quercus aquatica (>ij

Black Jack Oak Quercus fcrruginea 67

Bear Oak Quercus Banister i 69

Barrens Scrub Oak Quercus Catesbcei 71

Spanish Oak Quercus falcata 73

Black Oak Quercus fincforia 76

Scarlet Oak Quercus coccinea 79

Gray Oak Quercus borealis 81

11

112 CONTENTS.

PACK

Tin Oak Quercus 2'<'?i' >-■''■'•>■ ^'-^

lU-d Uak Qucrcuy rubra 84

Common European Walnut Juglans rcgia I'T

Black Walnut Jiii/lann nigra 104

Butternut Juglans cathartica 1' '9

Beeannut Iliekory Juglans oliva'formis 114

Bitternut Hickory Tughins amara 116

Water Bitternut Ilickorv Juglans aquatica 119

IMockernut Hickory Juglans tomentosa 120

Shcllbark Hickory Juglans squamosa 123

Thick Sliellbark Hickory Juglans laciniosa 128

I'ignut Hickory luglans porcina 132

Nutmeg Hickory Juglans myristicdfornns lo.j

AVliite Maple A<\'r eriovarjntin 14G

Red-Flowering Maple Acer rubrunu 149

Su^ar ^laple Acer saccharin um 153

151ack Sugar Tree Acer nigrum 1G3

Norway Maple Acer 2)lcitano'ides IHo

Sycamore Acer j)seudo-ptlatan us 167

Moose Wood Acer striatum 1 < >'. '

Box Elder Acer negundo 172

Mountain Maple Acer tnontanum 17")

Dogwood Cornus florida 176

Georgia Bark Pincknei/a puh< iis 180

Coflee Tree Ogmnocladus Canadensis 182

THE

NORTH AMERICAN

SYLYA.

OAKS.

In the greater part of Nortli America, as well as in Europe,
there is no tree so generally useful as the Oak. It is every-
wheic the most highly esteemed in the construction of houses
and of vessels, and is commonly selected for implements of hus-
l)andry. It seems, also, to have been multiplied by nature in
proportion to its utility. Without insisting upon the diversity
of climates to which it is indigenous, we may observe that the
number of its known species is already considerable and is daily
increasing, particularly on the Western Continent, and that its
varieties arc infinite. These considerations determined my
father in 1801, after his return from the United States, to pul)-
lish a treatise containing drawings and descriptions of the Oaks
of that country, which was favorably received by the lovers of
botany and agriculture.

The following extract from his work exhibits a just outline of
this tree: — "The genus of the Oaks (Introduct. p. 4) comprises
many unknown species; most of those which grow in America

14 0 A K S.

cxliibit such various forms -wliile young that tlioy can be ascer-
tained with certainty only when arrived at maturer years.
Often an intermediate variety so nearly resembles two species
that it is diifieult to determine, from the foliage, to wliich of
them it belongs. Some sjoecies are so variable that it is impos-
sible, by the leaves, to recognise their identity in 3'outh and at
a more advanced age. Others are so similar that specific cha-
racters must be derived from the fructification, which is itself
liable to variations and exceptions. It is only by a comparison
of stocks of different ages that analogous species can be distin-
guished and varieties correctly referred to their species.

" I have endeavored to arrange the American Oaks in a
natural series, the characters of which I first sought in the
fructification: but this afforded only unimportant distinctions,
such as the position of the barren thjwers, whether pedunculated
or nearly sessile, and the size and j^eriod of the fruit. Neither
was I able to found my distinction on the structure of the cup.
I was obliged therefore to have recourse to the foliage, which
has been made the basis of a division into two sections, the first
containing the species with beardless leaves, and the second,
those in which the summit or lobes are terminated by a bristle.

"The interval between the appearance of the flower and the
maturity of the fruit is different in diflerent species; and this
distinction I have admitted as a secondary character.

"All the Oaks are proved to be monecious. We know, too,
that on the European White Oak and other species the female
flowers are situated al)Ove the male upon the shoots of the same
season; that both are axillary; and that, immediately after the
fecundation, the male flowers f\^de and fall, while the female
blossom continues advancing through the natural stages till, in
the course of the year, it ripens into perfect fruit. But there
are some species whose fertile flowers remain stationary a whole
year and begin to develop their germ the second spring, pro-
babh' be("ause they are not fecumhitt'd the first season; so tliat

OAKS. 15

eighteen months elapse between the appearance of the tlower
and the maturity of the fruit. Hence I have formed a subdivi-
sion into species of annual and species of biennial fructification.
The female flower which is axillary the first season ceases to be
so, of course, at the falling of the leaf. Several species are
found upon the Old Continent whose fructuation is biennial,
such as the Cork Oak, Quercus suher, etc."

I have derived great assistance from my father's work, and
have adopted his arrangement, which perfectly accords with my
own observations. But I have in.serted several new species,
and have suppressed two that were not w^ell ascertained : the
existence of one of them is doubtful, and the other is evidently
a duplicate.

The chief distinction between my work and his consists in
the more extended practical observations, which are the fruit of
my own researches. My constant aim was to appreciate the
utility of each species in the mechanical arts, and to jjoint out
those which are the most deserving of attention in Europe and
America. If in this respect mine has some advantage, my
father's work will always preserve its title to the attention of
botanists and amateurs of foreign plants, by other details not
consistent with my plan. They will find, for example, quota-
tions from all the authors who had previously taken notice of
the species he describes, and, in the plates, leaves of the young
plant as well as of the full-grown tree.

I have described twenty-six American species, which I have
divided into two sections, according to the term of fructification :
the first comprising ten species that bear fruit every year; and
the second, sixteen, of wdiich the fructification is biennial. I
have learned by multiplied observations that, with the excep-
tion of the Live Oak, the wood of the first section is of a finer
texture, more compact, and consequently more durable.

Linnteus, in the third edition of his Species Pkintarum, pub-
lished in 1774, described fourteen species of Oak, of which five

16 OAK S.

only are natives of the New AVorld. Since that period such
additions have been made to the list that the new edition of
Willdenow's Spe(:k'>} Phuitanim, published in 180-3, contains
forty-four American species ; of Avhich sixteen were recognised
by Messrs. Humboldt and Bonpland in Old Mexico, and twenty-
six by my father and myself in the United States and the
adjacent countries. Probably the American series will be still
further augmented l)y discoveries in the Avestern part of Loui-
siana, and in the interior provinces of New Spain, — a country
1200 miles in extent, lying between the United States and Old
Mexico, which no naturalist has explored.

In America, as we have just observed, are found forty-four
species, which are all comprised between the 20th and 48th
degrees of north latitude; on the Old Continent are enume-
rated onl}' tliirty, which are scattered on both sides of the
ecjuator, beginning at the GOth degree north.

This sketch is not without utility, and appears naturally in
this place; such parallels might perhaps contribute more than
is generally thought to the progress of botany and agriculture,
and thej' deserve particular attention from naturalists travelling
in foreign countries. It would be interesting to possess com-
parative tables of those plants which are found in tlie higher
latitudes of both continents, and of the trees and shrubs of the
temperate climates of America with the analogous species found
in nearly the same latitude in Asia. I have long entertained a
wish, which will doubtless be shared by all who interest them-
selves in the science, that botanists would go more deeply into
the geography of plants. The rapid progress of the young
Americans who ai'e beginning to devote themselves with ardor
to the study of Natural History will soon aflbrd the recpiisite
information concerning their own portion of the globe.

[For a continuation of the subject, and for further interesting
particulars respecting the Oaks, see Nuttall's Supplement to this

0 A K S. 17

work, vol. i. p. 1, et scq. Six new species are there figured,
with additional information regarding several treated of by
Michaux.

Soil, Situation, and Climate. The Oaks, to attain their full
size, require a deejD, loamy soil, a situation low rather than
elevated, and a climate not liable to late spring frosts, which
injure both the blossoms and leaves. In elevated situations, or
in the extreme North, those species which, under favorable
circumstances, form the most magnificent trees, become, as in
the case of other trees, mere shrubs. The Oaks which flourish
on the worst soils are the low-growing kinds belonging to the
section Ilex, and esj^ecially those belonging to the group Phellos;
and those which require the best soil are the Quercus sessiliflora,
the Q. cerris, and most of the sorts composing the American
group Rubra?.

Propagation, &c. The Oak is propagated with difficulty by
every other mode except from seed; and, generally, time will
be gained when the acorns ai'e sown where the plants are in-
tended finally to remain. It is onlj*, therefore, where peculiar
varieties are to be continued that the process of grafting is re-
sorted to ; and the mode by approach is almost the only one
that is certain to be attended with success. The best stock for
grafting on is Q. cerris, on which some sorts may be successfully
budded.

The acorns need not be gathered from the tree, but may be
collected from the ground immediately after they have droj^ped,
and may either be sown then or kej^t till the following spring.
If they are to be kept, they should be made perfectly dry in the
sun or in an airy shed, mixed with dry sand, in the proportion
of three bushels of sand to one of acorns, or with dry moss, and
then excluded from the air and vermin, by being put into
barrels or boxes, or laid up in a cellar, or buried in heaps and
covered with a sufficient thickness of earth to exclude the
weather. Very few of any species will germinate after having

Vol. I.— 2

18 OAK S.

boon kept a 3'ear. When acorns are to be sown in a nursery,
the soil ought to be thoroughly prepared and rendered fine ;
and after the earth is di'awn oft' the beds, or the drills opened,
the acorns may either be scattered over the beds, or along the
drills, so that the nuts may be about two inches apart. The
acorns, before covering, inust be patted down Avith the back of a
spade in the beds, and with the back of a Avooden-headed rake
in the drills. The covering, of well-broken soil, should var}' in
depth according to the size of the acorn, 1* inches being enough
for those of the largest size and half an inch for those of the
smallest size. No mode of depositing acorns in the soil can be
worse than that of dropping them in holes made b}^ too small a
dibljle. The acorn drops into the hole, and Ijccomes wedged by
its sides before it gets to the bottom; and, if the upper extremity
should be downward instead of upward, it can hardly be ex-
pected to groAv. Sown late in March, the period between the
depositing the acorn and its becoming a plant is lessened and
the danger from destruction by vermin somcAvhat diminished.
When it is necessary to remoA'e the plant, the tap-root should
be shortened a year at least in adA\ance ; side-pruning is soon
necessary Avhen the object is a straight clean trunk.

The American Oaks A^ary so exceedingly in their leaA'Cs at
diflerent seasons of the year, in different stages of their groAvth,
and in different localities, that some experience is necessary in
deciding on them.

Like most other trees, the Oak seldom bears an abundant
crop of fruit for tAA'o years in succession, and it increases in pro-
ductiveness with age. All the species push up shoots from the
collar Avhen cut doAvn, but only one or Uvo species from the root.
After Oaks have stood in good soil and a suitable climate for
five or six years, they groAV Avith rapidity till they have attained
the age of thirtj^ or forty j^ears ; and the life of some species is
known to extend to upward of one thousand 3'ears.

There are some Oaks in Britain Avhich are belicA^ed to have

OAKS. 19

been old trees in the time of William the Conqueror; and Pliny
mentions a Quercus ilex which was an old tree when Rome was
founded, and which was still Uving in his time. The Mertou
Oak measures at the surface of the ground sixty-three feet two
inches.

The Cowthorp Oak, in Yorkshire, measui'es seventy-eight feet
in circumference near the ground, and its age is estimated as
nearly coeval with the Christian era. An Oak in Lower Char
rante, in France, is declared, on good authority, to measure from
eighty-five to ninety-four feet.

Particular attention should be given to the remarks of the
author on the subject of planting the Oak for future use. The
General or State Governments should never grant a charter for
a railroad or canal, without a clause recpiiring the planting of
useful trees, such as the White Oak, for instance, at the North,
and the Live Oak wherever the climate will admit, along both
sides of the route. A store of ship-timber would thus be accu-
mulating for national or mercantile service, whence it could
easily be transported to the seaboard in emergencies, — a plan
which would shade the road and be advantageous to the banks
of a canal. The French Government has shown a wise fore-
sight in this particular; her turnpikes are often thus planted^
and the jn-oduct is at the call of the authorities.]

METHODICAL DISPOSITION

OAKS OF NORTH AMERICA,

INCLUDING

THREE EUROPEAN SPECIES.

Monecia imhjaiidria. Linn. Amentaccw. Juss.

FIRST DIVISION.

Fructification annual ; leaves beardless.
First Section. — Leaves lobed.

1. White Oak Quercus alba.

2. Common European Oak . . Quercus robur.

2. European White Oak . . . Quercus rohur ixduncnlafa.

3. Mossy-cup Oak Quercus oUva'formis.

4. Over-cup White Oak .... Quercus macrocarpa.

5. Post Oak Quercus ohtusUoha.

G. Over-cup Oak Quercus Jijrata.

Second Section. — Leaves toothed.

7. Swamp White Oak .... Quercus prinus (lisrolor.

8. Chestnut White Oak . . . Q,iiercus prinus jxdustris.

9. Rock Chestnut Oak .... Quercus prinus montkola.

10. Yellow Oak Quercus jyrin/us acuminata.

11. Small Chestnut Oak . . . . Quercus prinus vhlnciipin.

20

METHODICAL DISPOSITION, ETC. 21

SECOND DIVISION.

Frudijication biennial; leaves mucronatcd, (except iu the IStli species.)

First Section. — Leaves obtuse or entire.

12. Live Oak Quercus virens.

13. Cork Oak Quercus suher.

14. Willow Oak Quercus lilidlos.

15. Laurel Oak Quercus imhricaria.

IG. Upland Willow Oak .... Quercus cinerea.

17. Running Oak Quercus ■pumila.

Second Section. — Leaves lobed.

18. Bartram Oak Quercus JieterojJii/Ua.

19. Water Oak Quercus aquatica.

20. Black Jack Oak Quercus ferruginca.

21. Bear Oak Quercus haulsterl.

Third Section. — Leaves muUifid or many-cleftcd.

22. Barrens Scrub Oak Quercus ceiteshcel.

23. Spanish Oak Quercus falcata.

24. Black Oak Quercus tinctoria.

25. Scarlet Oak Quercus coccinea.

26. Gray Oak Quercus amhlgua.

27. Pill Oak Quercus palustr is.

28. Red Oak Quercus rubra.

WHITE OAK.

QuERCUS ALBA. Q. foliis suhccqucditcr lybmat'ifidis ; laeiniis ohlongis, ob-
iusis, plerumqid iniegerrimis ; fructumajusculo ; cupula erateratd ; tuher-
culoso-scabraid ; glande ovaid.

Throughout the United States, and in Canada, tliis tree is
known by the name of White Oalc. The environs of the small
town of Trois JUvieres, in Canada, latitude 4G° 20', and the lower
part of the river Kennebeck, ui the district of Maine, are the
most northern points at which it was observed by m}' father
and myself. Thence we traced it along the searshore to a dis-
tance beyond Cape Canaveral, latitude 28°, and westward from
the ocean to the country of the Illinois, — an extent of more
than 1200 miles from northeast to southwest, and nearly as
much from east to west. It is, however, by no means equally
difiused over this vast tract ; in the district of Maine, Vermont,
and Lower Canada, it is little multiplied, and its vegetation is
repressed by the severity of the winter. In the lower part of
the Southern States, in the Floridas and Lower Louisiana, it is
found only on the borders of the swamps with a few other trees
which likewise shun a dry and barren soil. This region is
generally so sandy that it is covered with a continued growth
of Pines, as Avill be more particularly mentioned in the descrip-
tion of the Long-leaved Pine. The White Oak is observed also
to be uncommon on lands of extraordinary fertility, like those
of Tennessee, Kentuck}^, and Genesee ; and, of all the spacious
valleys watered by the Western rivers, I have travelled whole
days in those States without seeing a single stock, though the
few that exist, both there and in the Southern States, exhibit
the most luxuriant vegetation.

The White Oak abounds chief!}- in the Middle States and in
Virginia, particularly in that part of Pennsylvania and A'irginia

//./';

Whilr Oak.

('llilXd.' ,///></

W 11 1 T E 0 A K. 23

which lies between the Alleghauies and the Ohio, a distance of
about 150 miles, beginning at Brownsville on the Monongahela.
Near Greensburg, Macconnelsville, Unionville, and Washington
Court-house, I have seen large forests, nine-tenths of which con-
sisted of White Oaks, whose healthful appearance evinced the
favorable nature of the soil, though in general they wore not
more than fifteen inches in diameter. East of the mountains
this tree is found in every exposure, and in every soil which is
not extremely dry or subject to long inundations; but the largest
stocks grow in humid places. In the Western districts, where
it composes entire forests, the face of the country is undulated,
and the yellow soil, consisting partly of clay with a mixture of
calcareous stones, yields abundant crops of wheat.

By the foregoing observations, it appears that the severity of
the climate, the fertility of the soil, its dryness or humidity, are
the causes which render the White Oak so rare over three-
quarters of the United States that it is inadequate to supply the
local demand, though the country does not contain a fourth of
the population which it is capable of supporting.

Among the American Oaks this species bears the greatest
analogy to the European Oak, especially to tlie varietj' called
European White Oak, [Quercus i^edunculata,) which it resembles
in foliage and in the qualities of its wood. The American
White Oak is seventy or eighty feet high, and six or seven feet
in diameter; but its proportions vary with the soil and climate.
The leaves are regularly and obliquely divided into oljlong,
rounded lobes, destitute of points; the sections appeared to be
the deepest in the most humid soils. Soon after their unfold-
ing, they are reddish above and white and downy beneath;
when fully grown, they are smooth and of a light green on the
upper surface and glaucous underneath. In the fall they
change to a bright violet color, and form an agreeable contrast
with the surrounding foliage which has not yet suffered by the
frost.

24 ^Y II I T E 0 A K.

This is the only Oak on which a few of the dried leaves
persist till the circulation is renewed in the spring. By this
peculiarity and by the whiteness of the bark, from which it
derives its name, it is easily distinguished in the Avinter. The
acorns are of an oval form, large, very sweet, contained in rough,
shallow, graj-ish cups, and borne singly or in pairs, bj' peduncles
eight or ten lines in length, attached, as in all the species with
annual fructification, to the shoots of the season.

The fruit of the White Oak is rarelj' abundant, and frequently
for several years in succession a few handfuls of acorns could
hardly be collected in a large forest where the tree is multiplied.
Some stocks produce acorns of a deep blue color j but I have
found only two indications of this variety, one a flourishing
tree in the garden of Mr. W. Hamilton, [now the Woodlands
Cemetery,] near Philadelphia, and the other in Virginia.

The trunk is clad in a white bark, variegated frequently with
large black spots. On stocks less than sixteen inches in dia^
meter the epidermis is divided into squares; on old trees, grow-
ing in moist grounds, it is in the form of plates lateralh- at-
tached. The wood is reddish, and very similar to that of the
European Oak, though lighter and less compact, as may be
proved by splitting billets of each of the same size; in the
American species the vessels which occupy the intervals of the
concentrical circles are visibly less replete. But, of all the
American Oaks which I shall describe, this is best and most
generally used, being strong, durable, and of large dimensions.
It is less emplojed than formerh- in building only because it is
more scarce and costly.

At Philadelphia, Baltimore, and in the smaller towns of the
Middle States, the frame of all well-built houses, whether of
brick or wood, is of White Oak. West of the Alleghanies,
Avhere pine boards are not easily procured, the White Oak is
substituted for the floors and for the exterior covering of the
frame, notwithstanding its liability to warp and split.

WHITE OAK. 25

It is much used in the construction of mills and dams, particu-
larly for such parts as are exposed to be alternately wet and dry.

The wooden bridge, nearly 3000 feet long, that unites Boston
and Cambridge, is supported by posts of White Oak, from four-
teen to fifty feet in length, which replaced those of White Pine
on which it originally stood.

The excellent properties of this wood cause it to be preferred
for a great variety of uses, among which are many articles
manufactured by the wheelwright. This trade is carried to the
greatest perfection at Philadelphia, and its wares are highly
esteemed for soUdity both at home and abroad. White Oak
perfectly seasoned is employed for the frame of coaches, wagons,
and sledges, for the mould-board of ploughs, the teeth of wooden
harrows, the felloes and spokes of wheels, particularly the
spokes of coach-wheels. In the Northern, Middle, and Western
States, the naves are also made of Oak, in the country; but it
splits too easily to be proper for this object. Except in the
district of Maine, it is always chosen for the bow or circular
back of windsor-chairs. The wood of the young stocks is very
elastic, and is susceptible of minute division; hence it is pre-
ferred for the large baskets used in harvesting, for the hoop of
sieves, the bottom of riddles, and the handles of coach-whips,
which are braided and covered with leather; at Boston it is
chosen for pail-handles, and in Maine for axe-helves.

In many parts of the Middle States the White Oak is selected
for the posts of rural fences, and beyond the Laurel-Hill Moun-
tain, in Pennsylvania, where it is common, it forms the entire
enclosure.

The bark is considered by many tanners as the best for pre-
paring leather for saddles and other similar objects : it is little
used, however, because in the United States the bark of the
trunk and large limbs only is employed; and on these the
cellular tissue is much thinner in the White than in the Red
Oak, which is, besides, more abundant.

1.— 2*

26 WHITE 0 A K.

I have been told that the bark yields a purple dye. Though
I have not witnessed the fact, I am disposed to believe in its
existence, as I received the information from persons residing
several hundred miles from each other. But, if the color was
not defective in permanence or intensity, it would have found
its way into commerce, like the Quercitron of the Black Oak.

Of all the species that grow east of the Mississippi, the
White Oak alone furnishes staves fitted for containing wine and
spirituous liquors. The domestic consumption for this purpose
is immense, and vast quantities are exported to the "West Indies,
Great Britain, and the islands of Madeira and Teneriffe. The
Post Oak might, indeed, be applied to the same use ; l.)ut even
in Maryland and Virginia, where it is most common, it is not
sufficiently multiplied to supply the local demand.

The Eock Chestnut Oak and the Swamp White Oak in the
Northern and Middle States, the Chestnut White Oak and the
Over-cup Oak in the South, are compact enough to prevent the
escape of spirits and fine oils, yet porous enough to absorb them.
If they united every requisite quality, and were employed for
this purpose, they would be consumed in less than ten years.

It is well understood at Bordeaux that the wood of the Euro-
pean White Oak is closer-grained than that of the American
species, and the preference is given to our domestic growth, or
to that imported from Dantzic. The American Oak is exclu-
sively employed in Maderia and the AVest Indies, only because
it is cheaper and more easily procured.

White Oak staves are exported from all the parts of the
Northern and Middle States, and from New Orleans. Those
which come from Baltimore, Norfolk, and New Orleans, are far
superior to those of the Northern States; the difference results
naturally from that of the soil and climate.

The quantity of Oak staves exported to England and the
West Indies appears, by two official documents that I have
examined, to be considerable. In ISOS, the value received by

"WHITE 0 A K. 27

England amounted to more than $146,000, and the number of
staves sent to the West Indies exceeded 53,000,000. I am
unable to fix the proportion of the two species of White and
Red Oak; probablj' more of the first are sent to England, and
of the second to the Colonies. The price of both has varied
surprisingly within a hundred years. In 1720, staves for
barrels were sold at Philadelphia at $3 a thousand; in 1798, at
|18; and in 1818, at 830. In August, 1807, before the Ameri-
can Embargo, they were advertised at $55, and in April, 1808,
after that municipal regulation became known, at $100.

The young White Oak, on account of its elasticity, is very
proper for hoops, but it has less strength and less durability
than the Hickory.

Among the uses of this wood, the most important is in ship-
building. In all the dock-yards of the Northern and Middle
States, except in the district of Maine, it is almost exclusively
employed for the keel, and always for the lower part of the
frame and the sides ; it is preferred for the knees when sticks of
a proper form can be found. In the smaller ports south of New
York, the upper part of the frame is also of White Oak; but
such vessels are less esteemed than those built of more durable
wood.

At Boston, the tree-nails, or the pins by which the side-planks
are attached to the ribs, are of this species.

To obtain correct notions on the comparative value of the
American White Oak and the European Oak, I consulted Frencli,
English, and American shipwrights, in almost all the ports of the
United States. They generally agreed that the European Oak
was tougher and more durable from the superior closeness of its
grain, but that the American species was more elastic and re-
quired a shorter time, with only half the weight, to bend it.
This advantage, though important in ship-building, does not
compensate for the openness of its pores. Experience, however,
every day shows that by growing in places long inhabited its

28 V; 11 1 T E 0 A K.

quality is improved; and, if the American vessels are less
durable than those built in Europe, it is because the timber is
not thoroughly seasoned.

The gi-eater part of the immense c[uantity of White Oak ex-
ported from the United States is sent to England. It is shipped
from the Northern and Middle States in the form of boards and
of square timber : what goes to England from Quebec is brought
from the shores of Laice Champlain, for Canada probably
furnishes hardly enough for its o-\vii consumption.

By an extract from the custom-house books of St. John,
which I have already quoted, 143,000 cubic feet of Oak would
appear to have entered by this port during the first six months
of 1807. Oddy, in his Treatise on the Commerce of Europe, says
that in the English dock-yards the "Wliite Oak from British
America is esteemed excellent timber. The opinion, simply
considered, is correct; but that which comes from Baltimore
and Philadelphia must still be superior.

Before I conclude this article, I must be allowed to hazard a
conjecture on the consequences of the neglect of all means of
preserving and multiplying this tree in the United States, —
consequences which neither the Federal Government nor the
States have taken any measures to prevent. From the increase
of population, and from the impoverishment of the soil produced
by a gradual change in the climate, the "White Oak will pro-
bably, in less than fifty years, be the most rare in the Middle
States, where it is now the most abundant, and in Tennessee,
Kentucky, Genesee, and farther north, where it is the least
multiplied, it will be the most common, and will replace the
species which now compose the forests, but which the soil will
then be too feeble to sustain. Thus, near the river Kenncbcck,
in the midst of the primitive forests, composed of the Beeches,
the Canoe Birch, the Sugar INIaple, and the Hemlock Spruce, I
have obsei-ved small tracts, formerly cleared and since aban-
doned, which are naturally repeopled with the White and Gi'ay

WHITEOAK. 29

Oaks; and, in the lower part of Virginia, poor Red Oaks, Yellow
Pines, and Loblolly Pines, are extensively replacing trees of a
better quality. East of the mountains, the valleys that lie
along the rivers are, with a few exceptions, the only places
where the Oak could be advantageously reared; but these fertile
lands are more profitably devoted to husbandly.

The American White Oak cannot, in my ojiinion, be regarded
as a useful acquisition to the forests of Europe. Its elasticity,
which renders the young stocks proper for hoops, is doubtless a
valuable property; but the Chestnut of France is superior for
this purpose, because it is more durable.

The White Oak is used in the roj-al dock-yards of England,
prol)ably because it has been found impossible to procure sup-
plies of European Oak. Perhaps it is employed only for the
lower part of the frame, while the European Oak is reserved for
the upper timbers.

If the advantage of this compai'ison be allowed to be on the
side of the European species, the Americans should lose no time
in introducing it into their forests. To corporations parti-
cularly, whose property is less frequently alienated, I take the
liberty of addressing this advice, which, if followed, would be
productive of great advantage to themselves and to the public.
The analogy of the climates leaves no doubt of the perfect suc-
cess of this tree in the United States, an example of which is
found in the garden of Messrs. J. & W. Bartram, three miles
from Philadelphia, where there is a large stock which has
yielded seed for several years, and which continues to expand
with vigor.

[In ornamental planting, the White Oak should have abun-
dant space around it for expanding ; under such circumstances
it will throw out long limbs and lateral branches of the most
picturesque beauty.

This tree extends much farther to the west than is stated by

30 COMMON EUROPEAN OAK.

our author. Mr. Douglas considers Lake Winnipeg its northern
limit, where it is rarely over ten or twenty- feet high. The
White Oak ever^'where shrinks from the sea-breeze.

A tree of this species, near Boston, Massachusetts, measured
in 1840 twenty-five feet and nine inches in circumference.]

PLATE I.

A branch iviih leaves and acorns of ike natural size.
[See Nuttall's Supplement, vol. i. pp. 24, oo.]

COMMON EUROPEAN OAK.

QcERCUS KOBUR. Q. foliis iK'tlolatis, ohlongis, glabris, sinuatis, lobis ro-
iundatis ; fruclibus oblongls, sessilibus.

To the particular attention bestowed upon this interesting
tree in modern times is owing its division into two species, —
the Common European Oak, Quercus rohur, and the European
White Oak, Quercus jxdimculata.

These two species, which are much alike and are usually
considered as the same, grow in the same countries, and fre-
quently together. Thej^ constitute the greater part of the
European forests, from the 60th to the 35th degree of north
latitude, overspreading a great part of the north of Asia and the
northern extremity of Africa. They are most abundantly mul-
tiplied on the shores of the Black Sea, in Germany, England,
France, and some parts of Italy, where the climate is particu-
larly favorable to their growth.

The Ct)nnnon European Oak is from sixty to eighty feet in

p/. -J.

COMMON EUROPEAN OAK. 31

height, numerously ramified, and crowned with an ample and
majestic summit. The bark upon the trunk is thick, and, upon
old stocks, deeply furrowed. The leaves are petiolated, smooth,
and of a uniform color on both sides, enlai'ged toward the sum-
mit, and very coarsely toothed. The acorns are oval and ses&ile,
which is the principal diffei'ence between the two species.

This tree prefers high places and the declivities of hills, with
a barren gravelly soil; hence it grows more slowly, and its
wood is more compact, tougher, and heavier, than that of the
European White Oak. It is less used for household stuff and
other kinds of joinery, because it is less easily wrought ; but is
more esteemed for building and for works that require great
strength and durability.

The Common European Oak is subdivided into many varie-
ties, the most valuable of which are the European Black Oak,
Quercics robur lanuginosa, aud the Quercus robur (jlomerata.
The first is only thirty or forty feet high, with small thick
leaves, very downy underneath ; its timber is compact aud ex-
cellent for fuel. The second never rises to a great height ; the
leaves are small, but smooth on both sides; the acorns are of an
inferior size and collected in clusters upon a short common
peduncle.*

PLATE II.

A branch of the Common Uurojxan Oak, with leaves and acorn? of the
natural size.

* [For a higlily-interesting account of this tree and the ensuing one, Q. jiedun-
culata, see Loudon's Arboretum Britannicum, vol. iii. p. 1740.]

EUROPEAN WHITE OAK

QpERCUS PEDUNCULATA. Q. foliis suhscssiUbus, glahi'is, siimatis; fruc-
iibus ohiovgis, pcdimcidaiis.

The European White Oak grows of choice in rich bottoms,
where the soil is deoj) and moderately humid. It reaches the
height of ninety or one hundred feet, and has a large, well-pro-
portioned trunk, which is often undivided for a considerable
distance, and which spreads into a large, commanding summit.
The bark upon the body is very thick, and, on old trees, deeply
furrowed ; upon the limbs and the young stocks it is grayish,
smooth, and glossy. The leaves are of a light green on the
upper surface, wdiitish beneath, widened toward the summit,
deeply sinuated with blunted points, and supported by short
petioles like those of the American White Oak. They are more
or less divided according to the age of the tree and to the
moisture of the soil. A part of the dry discolored foliage
joersists through the winter and falls the ensuing S23ring.

Besides the difference of the foliage, this species is constantly
distinguished from the preceding by its fi'uit, which is suj]-
ported singly or in pairs by slender peduncles, two, three, or
even four inches long. The acorns are of an oval shape, from
nine to eighteen lines in length, according to the age and vigor
of the tree, and contained in shallow cups ; the}' fall about a
fortnight before those of the Common Oak.

The wood of the European White Oak is of the same color
with that of the American species, the sap being white and the
heart I'eddish ; but the texture is closer and the pores fuller,
which is probably the reason of its being less elastic, but
stronger and more durable. It is generally preferred to the
Common Oak, as it furnishes larger timbers, splits more regu-

Mossv C'uj) Oak.

(Jiurcii.t' (i/nur/o/iius .

MOSSY-CUP OAK. 33

larly, and is more easily wrouglit; hence it is liighl}' esteemed
for the construction of houses and ships, and extensively em-
ployed by the joiner, the wheelwright, and the cooper.

Throughout Europe, except in the north of Russia, the bark
of the Counnon Oak and the White Oak is almost exclusively
used in tanning. That which is taken from the branches
and from small stocks is preferred, because the epidermis is
thinner, and the cellular tissue, which contains the tannin,
more abundant.

Oak wood is more generally used in Europe than in the
United States, where the different sj^ecies of Ash, Birch, etc. in
some measure supply its place. The European White Oak
would be a valuable addition to the American forests, and I
have sent out acorns to begin the formation of nurseries.

PLATE II.

A branch of the European WJiHc Oak, with leaves and acorns of the
natural size.

MOSSY- CUP OAK.

QuEUCUS OLiv^FORJiis. Q. foliis ohlongis, glabris, suhtus glaucis, pro-
furide inosqualUerque sinuato-lobatis ; friictu ovato ; cupula pii'ofundius
cratcratd, superne criniid ; glande oliccEforini.

I HAVE observed this species of Oak only in the State of New
York, on the banks of the Hudson above Albany and in Gene-
see, where it is so rare that it has hitherto received no sj)ecific
name.

Its leaves are of a light green above and whitish Ijeneath :
they resemble those of the White Oak in color, but differ from

34 MOSSY- CUP OAK.

them in form, l)eing larger, and very decplj- and irregularly
laciuiated, with rounded lol^es so various in shape that it is
impossible to find two leaves that are alike. The acorns are of
an elongated oval form, and are enclosed in cups of nearly the
same configuration, of which the scales are prominent and re-
curved, except near the edge, where they terminate in slender,
flexible filaments. From this peculiarity I have derived the
name of Mossy-cup Oak.

Tliis tree is sixty or seventy feet in height, with a spacious
summit and an imposing aspect. The bark is white and lami-
nated; but the tree is chiefly remarkable for the form and dis-
position of its secondary branches, which are slender, flexible,
and always inclined toward the earth. This peculiarity alone
would render it a valuable acquisition for parks and gardens.

As I have met with this species only in uninhabited places, I
have had little opportunity of examining its wood : as far as I
can judge, it is not better than that of the White Oak, though
far superior to that of the Red Oak.

[Pursh found tliis Oak on iron-ore hills in Pennsjdvania and
Virginia, and adds that in general appearance it resembles
Q macrocarpa.'\

■ PLATE III.

Leaves of the natural size. Fig. 1. An acorn icith the cup. Fig. 2.
An acorn iciihout the cup.

[See Nuttall's Supplement, vol. i. p, 24.]

//. i.

Over (up While Oak.

lhifri/1,1- ///iitv<'i-ii/y>i!

OVER-CUP WHITE OAK.

QuERCUS MACROCARPA. Q. foliis subtomcntosis jvofiiixlc h/raiimqnc simiato-
lobatis, ohtasis; fructu maximo ; cupula profundius craterald, supcrne
crinitct ; glande turgide-ovatd.

Tins interesting species is most mnltiplicd beyond tlie Alle-
glianies, in the fertile districts of Kentiicliy and West Tennessee,
and in Upper Louisiana near the Missouri.''' It is called by the
Americans Bur Oak and Over-cup White Oak, and, by the French
of Illinois, Chine a gros gland.

It is a beautiful tree, more than sixty feet in height, laden
■with dark, tufted foliage. The leaves are larger than those of
any other Oak in the United States, being frequently fifteen
inches long and eight broad : they are notched near the summit,
and deeply laciniated below. The acorns, which are also larger
than those of any other American species, are oval, and enclosed
for two-thirds of their length in a thick, rugged cup, bordered
with fine flexible filaments. Sometimes, however, in compact
forests or in very temperate seasons, the filaments do not appear,
and the edge of the cup is smooth and bent inward.

The fructification of this tree is not abundant, and, as its
wood is inferior to that of the White Oak, it is little esteemed
in the United States.

I have observed, as well as my father, who first made the
remark, that the young branches are frequentl}- covered with a
yellowish fungous substance^ like those of the Elm and Sweet
Gum.

[A specimen of this tree standing about three miles from Troy,
Ohio, has been measured; its dimensions are as foUoAVs: — the

[AceurJiiig to Pursb, ou dry slate or liincstunc bills.]

36 r 0 S T 0 A K.

diameter at one foot above the ground, seventeen feet; at six
feet above the ground, fourteen feet nine inches. The trunk
rises about tifty feet without limbs, and with scarcely a percep-
tible diminution in size. The top branches rise one hundred
feet above the earth.

As a tree for ornamental planting, the Over-cup Oak is attract-
ing much attention; its introduction is the beginning of a taste
for the finest trees of our own land. The macrocarjM is surely
one of these, both from its fine growth, large leaves and fruit,
and its magnificence. This Oak is remarkable when young for
the corky appearance of its bark, in which it differs from otlier
Oaks and rcseml^les the Cork-bark Elm.]

PLATE IV.

A leaf of half the natural size. Fi(j. 1. An Acorn in the cup, of the
natural size.

POST OAK.

QuEUCtTS OBTUSiLOBA. Q. foliis sinuatis, snbtus louhesccntihus, lobis ob-
iusis, siqm'ioribus dilatalis, hilobis; friictu mcdiocri; glande brevi-
orata.

Quercus stcllata, AViLLn, Sp. PI

In New Jersey, near the sea, and in the vicinity of Philadel-
phia, this species is thinly disseminated in the forests, and has
hitherto been considered as a variety of the White Oak. In
Maryland and a great part of Virginia, where it abounds, and
where its properties are better understood, it is called Box
White Oak, and sometimes Iron Oak and Post Oak. The last
denomination only is used in the Carolinas, Georgia, and East
Tennessee.

/Y. J.

Post Oak

P 0 S T 0 A K. 37

The steep banks of the Hudson, nearly opposite to the city
of New York, are the most northern point at which I have
observed it. Even here its existence seems to be secured only
by the influence of the sea-air, which tempers to a certain
degree the severity of the winter. A little farther inland it is
not found in the forests. In the vicinity of South Amboy,
thirty miles nearer the sea, where the soil is dry and sandy, it is
more multiplied ; and it becomes still moi'e vigorous and more
common in advancing toward the South. Westward, in Penn-
sylvania, I saw the last individual of this species a little beyond
Carlisle, on the road to Pittsburg, 150 miles from Philadelphia.
Near Baltimore, at the distance of 210 miles from New York, it
abounds in the woods and attains its utmost expansion. In
Kentucky and Tennessee it is rare, excej)t on the edges of the
swamps enclosed in the forests, about which it is multiplied,
though not fully developed. It probably exists in Lower Loui-
siana; for we met with it in East Florida, of which the climate
is the same.

But it is nowhere more abundant than in Maryland and in
Virginia, between the Alleghanies and the sea. Wherever the
soil is dry, gravelly, and unsubstantial, it forms a considerable
proportion of the forests, which are composed principally of the
Black, Scarlet, Spanish, and Black Jack Oaks, the Dogwood and
the Yellow Pine. These woods exhibit a squalid appearance,
occasioned not only by the sterility of the soil, but by the injury
they are constantly sustaining from the cattle which range
through them at all seasons, and which in winter are comj^elled,
by the want of hei'bage, to subsist upon the young sprouts and
the shoots of the preceding year. The upper part of the two
Carolinas and Georgia, particularly where the Pine and Oak
forests unite, is analogous in soil to that portion of Virginia of
which we have been speaking, and abounds in the Post Oak;
but nearer the sea the barren wastes are covered with the Long-
leaved Pine, and the Oak is seen only in the lowest parts of the

38 P 0 S T 0 A K.

swamps, about the plantations, and on tracts that have been
exhausted by cultivation and abandoned.

The leaves are borne by short petioles, and are of a dusky
pTcen above and grayish beneath. They are four or five inches
in length, thick, and even coriaceous toward the end of summer,
deeply and regularly sinuated, and are divided into four or five
rounded lobes, of which the two nearest the summit are the
broadest. Toward the full the ribs are of a rosv tint, instead
of a 23urplish red, like those of the Scarlet Oak. The fructifica-
tion seldom fails. The acorns are small, oval, and covered for a
third of their length with a slightlj'-rugged grayish cup. They
are very sweet, and form a delicious food for sc|uirrels and wild
turkeys; hence the tree is sometimes called Turkey Oak.

The height of this species rarely exceeds fort}' or iift}' feet,
with a diameter of fifteen inches. Its summit, even when com-
pressed in the forests, is disproportionately large, owing probably
to the earl}' division of the trunk into several limbs, with which
the secondary branches form more open angles than is common
on other trees. The branches also ai'e bent into elbows at cer-
tain distances, Avhich gives so jDCculiar an appearance to the tree
that it is easily distinguished when the leaA'es are fallen. The
bark upon the trunk is thin and of a grayish white. The wood
is 3ellowish, with no tinge of red. Growing upon a less humid
soil, it is less elastic, but finer-grained, stronger, and more dura-
ble, than the White Oak; hence it is preferred for posts, and is
used with advantage by wheelwrights and coopers.

In shii>building it is used principally for the knees, and is
admitted into the lower part of the frame. It rarely furnishes
side-planks or timber of considerable length: for this reason it
is less esteemed than the White Oak, and it is, besides, less
common, except in Maryland and certain parts of Virginia.

The preference giA'en in the West Indies to the staves from
Baltimore and Norfolk is due in a great measure to their being
made of the Post Oak.

J'.r /I.:/.;,/,- ./,/

Oak

Over Clip

(h/t7'(7t,f ll//it/ll

OVER-CUP OAK. 39

This tree, though only of secondary size, should be propagated
in America and introduced into the forests of Europe.

[Emerson mentions this tree as growing on Martha's Vinej'ard,
much beyond the northern limit assigned to it by Michaux.
Elliot saj'S, " Its timber is supposed, in strength and durability,
to surpass that of any other species of the Oak ; and therefore
it is highly prized when it can be obtained sufficiently large to
be used in the construction of vessels." Staves of it are greatly
esteemed: its timber is sometimes confounded with the White
Oak, which it greatly resembles.]

PLATE V.

A branch icith leaves andfruil of the natural size.
[See Nuttall's Supplement, vol. i. p. 23.]

OYER-CUP OAK.

QuEECUS LYRATA. Q. folOs subsessUibus, ^labris, lyrato-sinuosis, sum-
miiate dtlatatd, dlvaricato-triloba, lobis acutangulis, tcrminali trkuspide;
cupula deprcsso-(jlobosd, muricato-scabratd ; glaitde sublccid.

In the United States I have met with this interesting species
only in the lower part of the Carolinas and of Georgia. It pro-
bably exists on the banks of the Mississippi in Lower Louisiana;
and I have observed it on the St. John, in East Florida, in
situations analogous to those in which it flourishes a little
farther north. In Georgia and Carolina it is not extensively
multiplied, and has been distinguished only by the inhabitants
of the places where it grows. It is called Swamp Post Oak,

40 OVER-CUP OAK.

Over-cup Oak, and AVater White Oak. The first of these de-
iiouiinations indicates an analogy between its foliage and that of
the Post Oak, and the second a remarkable peculiarity of its
i'ruit, of which the acorn is covered bj- the cup. The name of
Over-cup Oak is the most common in South Carolina, and that
of Swamp Post Oak on the Savannah in Georgia.

The Over-cup Oak grows in more humid situations than any
other species of this genus in the United States. It is never
seen in the long narrow marshes wliich intersect the pine-bar-
rens, but is found exclusively in the great swamps on the borders
of the rivers, which are often overflowed at the rising of the
waters and are inaccessible during three-quarters of the year.
In these gloomy forests it is united with the Large Tupelo,
White Elm, Wahoo, Planer Tree, Carolinian Poplar, Water
Bitternut Hickorj-, and Water Locust.

It expands to a majestic size, and the influence of a deeji and
constantlj-humid soil is shown in the luxuriancy of its vegeta-
tion. On the banks of the Savannah I have seen stocks which
were more than eighty feet high and from eight to twelve feet
in circumference. The leaves are six or eight inches long,
smooth, narrow, lyre-shaped, deeply sinuated, and borne by
short petioles. The lobes, particularly the two upper ones, are
truncated, and from their resemblance in this respect to those of
the Post Oak is derived the name of Swamp Post Oak. The
foliage is thick and of a light, agreeable tint. The acorns, un-
like those of the Oaks in general, which are of an elongated
oval shape, are broad, round, and depressed at the summit :
they are sometimes from twelve to eighteen lines in diameter
from side to side, and from six to ten lines from the base to the
summit. The cup, which is nearly closed, is thin, and its scales
are terminated by short, firm points.

The bark upon the trunk is white, and the wood, though in-
ferior to that of the White Oalv and the Post Oak, is more com
pact than would be sujiposed from the soil in which it grows;

SAvaiup Wliite Oak

(h/tyr//,t' P":'' <//,'( o/or .

SWAMP WHITE OAK. 41

the pores are observable only between the concentrical circles,
and are more regularly disposed than in other trees.

This species is the largest and the most highly esteemed among
the Oaks that grow in wet grounds. Its propagation should be
attempted in the forests of Europe, where no doubt can be en-
tertained of its success. The acorns which I sent to France
several years since, though sown upon uplands, have produced
flourishing plants, which bear the winter of Paris without injury.

PLATE VI.

A branch icith leaves and fruit of the natural size.

SWAMP WHITE OAK.

QuERCUS PEiNUS DISCOLOR. Q. foUis oUongo-ohovatis subtks albo-toiiien-
tosis, grosse dcntatis, basi integerrimis, dentibus inccqualibus ddatatis;
fructibus longe pedunculatis.

Quercus bicolor. Willd.

This species is known in the United States only by the name
of Swamp White Oak, which indicates at once the soil which it
prefers and its analogy to the White Oak.

I first observed it near Portsmouth in New Hampshire; but
it is less multiplied in this latitude than in the Middle and
Western States. It particularly attracted my attention in New
Jersey near the city of New York, on the Delaware in Penn-
sylvania, on the Susquehanna in Virginia, and beyond the
mountains on the Ohio in Kentucky, and on the Holston, near
Knoxville, in East Tennessee ; I have also seen it on the shoi'cs
of Lake Cliamplain and Lake Ontario. Except the district of

I.— 3*

4f? SWAMr WHITE OAK.

Maine and the maritime parts of the southern section, it is
diffused throughout the United States : in comparison, however,
with several other species, it is not common, being found only
on the edges of swamps and in wet places exposed to inunda-
tions, and not in the forests at large, like the White Oak, the
Bhick Oak, &c. In New Jersey it is associated with the Pin
Oak, the Eed-iloweiing Maple, the White Ash, the Tupelo, and
the Shellbark Hickory. On the shores of Lake Champlain,
which occasionally offer similar situations, particularly at a
little distance from Skeensborough, it is mingled with the White
Maples, which occupy the next line to the Willows in retiring
from the shore.

The Swamp Wliite Oak is a beautiful tree, more than seA^enty
feet in height, of which the vegetation is vigorous and the
foliage luxuriant. The leaves are six or eight inches long and
four inches broad, smooth and of a slightly-dark green above,
downy and light-colored beneath; they are entire toward the
base, which is cuneiform, but are widened and coarsely-toothed
for two-thirds of their length toward tlie summit. The tree is
distinguished when 3'oung by the form of its base and by the
down upon its leaves, which is moi'e sensible to the touch than
on an}' analogous species. At a riper age the lower side of the
leaf is of a silvery white, which is strikingly contrasted with the
bright green of the upper surface; hence, the specific name of
discolor was given it by Dr. Muhlenberg.

The acorns are sweet, but seldom abundant; the}- are rather
large, of a brown complexion, and contained in a spreading cup
edged with short, slender filaments, more downy within than
those of any other Oak, and supported by peduncles one or two
inches in length.

The trunk is clad in a scaly grayish-white bark. The wood
is strong, elastic, and heavier than that of the AVhite Oak. In
stocks more than a foot in diameter the grain is fine and close
and the pores are nearly obliterated. It splits easilj- and in a

SWAMP WHITE OAK. 43

straight line, and is esteemed next in quality to the White Oak,
though from its rareness it is but accidentally employed in the
arts.

If, as I incline to believe, the Swamp White Oak is found by
more accurate experiments to be superior to the White Oak, it
must be considered as a very valuable tree, and its increase
should be favored at the expense of the Red-flowering Maple,
the Bitternut Hickory, the Hornbeam, and other species which
grow in the same exposures. It seems also to deserve a place
in the forests of Europe, where, in moist grounds, it might be
lilended or alternated with the Ashes, the Alders, and the
Poplars.

[This tree occasionally attains a large size. One is mentioned
growing in a wet, clayey soil, measuring twelve feet and one
inch in circumference at four feet from the ground. The wood
is of a brownish color, heavy, compact, and fine-grained, and is
preferred by some for boat-building to the White Oak.]

PLATE VII.

A branch -with leaves and frail of the natural size.
[See Nuttall's Supplement, vol. i. p. 23.]

CIIESTXUT WHITE OAK.

QuERCOS PRiNus PALUSTRis. Q. foVds ohlongo-ovallbus, acv.minatis acU'
iisve, subuniformiler deniaiis; cupula craieratd, subsquamosd; glande
ovatd.

Quercus priuus. ^Villd.

The Chestnut Wliite Oak is first seen -within ten miles of
Phihidelphia; but it is loss multiplied and less amply developed
than farther south. It is most abundant in the maritime parts
of the Carolinas, Georgia, and East Florida, and is probably
found on the banks of the Mississippi, which are analogous to
those of many rivers of the Southern States.

In Pennsylvania this sp)ecies is confounded with the Eock
Chestnut Oak, which it strikingly resembles; farther south,
Avhere the Rock Chestnut Oak is unknown, it is called Chestnut
White Oak, Swamp Chestnut Oak, and generall}-, on the Sa-
vannah, "White Oak.

The Chestnut White Oak is adorned with beautiful foliage;
the leaves are eight or nine inches long, four or five inches
broad, oljovate, deeply toothed, of a light shining green above
and whitish beneath.

The acorns are brown, oval, larger than those of any other
species except the Over-cup White Oak, and contained in shal-
low scaly cups. Being sweet-flavored, and sometimes aljundant,
they are sought with avidity by wild and domestic animals,
such as deer, cows, horses, and swine.

The Chestnut White Oak, like the Over-cup Oak, grows only
in the large swamps that border the rivers or are enclosed in
the forests; but it alwajs chooses spots that are rarely inun-
dated, where the soil is loose, deep, constantly cool, and luxu-
riantly fertile.

In the Carolinas and Georgia it is usually accompanied by
44

I>/.8.

ClicsmitWliito Oak

CHESTNUT WHITE OAK. 45

the White Ehn, the Wahoo, the Big Laurel, the Uinln-ella Tree,
the Sweet Leaves, the Beach, the Poplar, the Bitteruut Hick-
ory, and the Devil Wood. In this latitude it attains its utmost
development, which is eighty or ninety feet in stature, with a
proportional diameter. Its straight trunk, undivided and of a
uniform size to the height of fifty feet, and its expansive tufted
summit, form one of the most beautiful and majestic trees of the
North American forests.

Its wood, which is aflected by the richness of the soil, is in-
ferior to that of the Post Oak, the White Oak, and even the
Over-cup Oak; and its pores, though nearly obliterated, are
more open. But it is superior to many other species, and is
employed for wheelwrights' work and other objects which
require strength and durability. As it splits in a straight line
and may be divided into fine shreds, it is chosen by the negroes
for Ijaskets and brooms. Its pores are too open to contain wine
or spirituous liquors. In the form of rails it lasts twelve or
fifteen years, or a third longer than the Willow Oak. At
Augusta in Georgia it is considered as the best fuel, and is sold
at two or three dollars a cord.

The Chestnut White Oak endures the winter of Paris, but its
vegetation would be quicker in the more southern departments.
It is to be regretted that a tree which seems formed to be one
of the finest ornaments of our forests should have nothing to
recommend it but its beauty. Other properties it possesses only
in a secondary degree, and in Europe it will probably be con-
fined to the pleasure-grounds of amateurs.

PLATE VIII.

A branch ivith laives and frail of (he natural size.

ROCK CHESTNUT OAK.

QuERCTJS PKINTJS MONTicoLA. Q. fol'ds obovciUs acutis grossl dentalis,
dmiibus subaqualihus ; fruclu majusculo, ciqndd iurbinatd, scabrosd;
glamle oblongCi.

Quercus moutana. Willd.

This Oak is among the species which are not scattered pro-
miscuously in tlie forests, but which grow only in particular
situations and easily escape obsei'vation ; hence, it is difficult to
assign its limits with precision. It probably does not extend
northward far bejond Vermont nor eastward beyond New
Hampshire. I have never seen it in the district of Maine nor
in Nova Scotia, and it is not mentioned in my father's botanical
notes upon Lower Canada; it is likewise a stranger to the mari-
time parts of the Southern States. It is most frequently met
Avith in the middle and in some parts of the northern sections,
but is rarely mingled with other trees in the forests, and is
found only on high grounds thickly strewn with stones or
coA'ered with rocks. Thus, it is often seen on the steep and
rocky banks of the Hudson and on the shores of Lake Cham-
jjlain, and still more frequently on the Alleghauies in Pennsjd-
vania and Virginia. It forms nine-tenths of the growth on
some parts of these mountains, but the soil is so meagre that it
is thinly disseminated and does not exceed twenty or twenty-
live feet in height and eight or ten inches in diameter. I made
this observation particularly on the Dry Eidges, fifteen miles
fi'om Bedford.

In that part of Pennsylvania, as well as in Maryland and

Virginia, it is known by the name of Chestnut Oak, and by that

of Eock Oak on the banks of the Hudson and the shores of

Lake Champlain to the distance of 400 miles from New York.

Eoth are significant: the first, of a remarkable resemblance of
46

Hock Chcsiiul O.ik

Olll7f//S /".'" /fl<'/l//lll/il

/•V^yv,./,..,

ROCK CHESTNUT OAK. 47

the Ijark to that of the Chestnut; and the second, of the situa-
tions in which the tree is exchisively found. For this reason,
and to avoid confounding it with the preceding and following
species, which also grow in Virginia, I have blended the two
denominations.

The beautiful appearance of this tree when growing in a
fertile soil is owing equally to the symmetry of its form and to
the luxuriance of its foliage. The leaves are five or six inches
long, three or four broad, oval and uniformly denticulated, with
the teeth more regular but less acute than those of the Chestnut
White Oak. When beginning to open in the spring they are
covered with a thick down ; but when full}' exj)anded they are
perfectly smooth, whitish beneath, and of a delicate texture.
The petiole is of a yellow color, which becomes brighter toward
the foil.

The acorns are brown, of an oblong-oval shape, and sometimes
an inch in length, a third part of which is contained in a spread-
ing cup covered with loose scales; they are sweet-tasted, and are
a favorite nourishment of wild and domestic animals.

The Rock Chestnut Oak is sometimes three feet in diameter
and more than sixty feet high; but, as its growth is usually
repressed by the poverty of the soil, it rarely attains these
dimensions. In open, elevated situations it spreads widely and
forms a head like that of the apple-tree. When the truidc ex-
ceeds a foot in diameter it is covered with a thick, hard, deeply-
furrowed bark. At New York, and near the Alleghanies in
Pennsylvania, this species of bark is esteemed the best for
tanning. Only that of the secondary branches and of stocks
less than six inches thick is employed. It is sold at New York
for ten or twelve dollars a cord. The epidermis is strongly im-
pregnated with the tanning principle, which in other species
resides only in the cellular tissue.

The wood is reddish, like that of the White Oak; but its
pores are more open, though its specific gravity is greater: pieces

48 ROCK CHESTNUT OAK.

of both species being thrown into water, the White Oak remains
on the surface and the other at the bottom. Its staves are not
used to contain sjjirituous liquors. At New York, and on the
lianks of the Hudson, it holds the next place to the White Oak
in the construction of vessels. It is employed for the lower
part of the frame, and oftener for the knees and the ril^s.
Pieces of White Oak suited to these objects are procured with
difficulty; but the Rock Chestnut Oak, growing up in a con-
tinual controversy with the winds, is more frccjuently bent into
the proper shape. For fuel, it is next in price to the Ilickor}'.
I have been told in several forges, especially those at the foot of
the North Mountain, 200 miles from Pliiladelphia, that it is
superior in this respect to axcvy other species of its genus except
the Live Oak

A tree like this, which grows in stony soils, in alirupt unin-
habitable exposures, and whose bark and timber are so valuable,
deserves the particular attention of American and European
foresters. They should sow the acorns in the crevices of the
rocks and wherever the soil is incapable of cultivation. Thou-
sands of young plants already exist in the vicinitj' of Paris.

PLATE IX.

A branch with leaves ami fruit of the natural size.
[See XuttalTs Sujiplenient, vol. i. pp. 28. 33.]

Yellow Oak

YELLOW OAK.

QuERCUS PRiNUS ACUMINATA. Q. follis longe pctiolatis, acuminatis, sub-
oequaliter dcniaiis ; fructu mcdiocri; cupula subhcmisphxricd.

Quercus castanea. AVillp.

The banks of the Delaware may be assumed as the northern
Hmit of the Yellow Oak. It scarcely exists in the maritime
parts of the Southern States, where I have seen only a few
stocks near Two Sisters' Ferry on the Savannah in Georgia, and
a single one on the Cape Fear, a mile from Fayetteville, in North
Carolina. In the Middle and Western States, though more
common, it is still rare in comparison with many other trees,
and is sometimes lost sight of by the traveller for several days
in succession. I have most particularly observed it on the small
river Conestoga near Lancaster in Pennsj-lvauia, on the Monon-
gahela a little above Pittsburg, and in several small tracts near
the Holston and Nolachuky in East Tennessee. In the Mono-
graphy of American Oaks, my father takes notice of its exist-
ence in the country of the Illinois.

Near Lancaster this tree is called Yellow Oak, from the com-
jalexion of its wood; but in other parts of the United States it
is confounded with the Chestnut White Oak and Rock Chestnut
Oak, to which it bears some resemblance in its foliage.

The leaves are lanceolate, acuminate, regularly toothed, of a
light green above and whitish beneath. The small acorns are
contained in slightly-scaly cups, and are sweeter than those of
any other species in the United States.

The Yellow Oak is a fine tree, seventy or eighty feet high
and two feet in diameter, with branches tending rather to close
round the trunk than to difiuse themselves horizontally. I in-
variably found it in valleys where the soil was loose, deep, and

fertile. The bark upon the trunk is whitish, very slightly fur-
VoL. I.— 4 49

50 SMALL CHESTNUT OAK.

rowed, and sometimes divided into plates, like that of the
Swamp White Oak. The wood is yellowish, though the tint is
not bright enough to fit it for peculiar uses. Its pores are partly
obliterated, irregularly disjiosed, and more numerous than those
of an}' other American Oak: this organization must impair its
strength and render it less durable than the Chestnut White
Oak and the Eock Chestnut Oak.

As this tree is so thinly disseminated, it Avill not aj^pear sur-
prising that I should not have witnessed the application of its
wood in the arts, or have found occasions of accurately ai)pre-
ciating its qualities. Its agreeable form and beautiful foliage
render it proper for the embellishment of picturesc^ue gardens.

PLATE X.

A branch with Icaixs and fruit of the jiatiiral size.

SMALL CHESTNUT OAK.

QuERCus PRiNUS CHiNCAPiN. Q. folUs obovatis, grossc dcntatis, s^lhtus
glaucis; cupula hemisphcerica ; glande ovatd.

Quercus prinoides. Willd.

In the Northern and Middle States this pretty little species is
called Small or Dwarf Chestiuit Oak, from the resemblance of
its leaves to those of the Rock Chestnut Oak; as there is also
a likeness between its foliage and that of the Chincapin, it is
known in East Tennessee and in the upper part of the Carolinas
bv the name of the Chincapin Oak.

The Small Chestnut Oak is not generally diffused, but is rare
in many places adapted to its constitution, and is usuallj' found

Small Cliesimt Oak.

SMALL CHESTNUT OAK. 51

in particular districts, where, alone or mingled with the Bear
Oak, it sometimes covers tracts of more than 100 acres. The
presence of these species is a certain proof of the barrenness of
the soil. I have particularly observed the Small Chestnut Oak
in the vicinity of Providence in Rhode Island, of Albany in
New York, of Knoxville in Tennessee, and on the Alleghany
Mountains in Virginia. It grows spontaneously in the park of
Mr. W. Hamilton, near Philadelphia.

Tliis species, and another which is found in the Pine forests
of the Southern States, rarely exceed thirty inches in height:
they are the most diminutive of the American Oaks, and are
mentioned only to complete the series.

The leaves of the Small Chestnut Oak are oval-acuminate,
regularly but not deejily denticulated, of a light green above
and whitish beneath. The acorns are enclosed for one-third of
their length in scaly sessile cups; they are of middle size, some-
what elongated, similarly rounded at both euds, and very sweet.

Nature seems to have sought a compensation for the diminu-
tive size of this shrub in the abundance of its fruit: the stem,
which is sometimes no bigger than a quill, is stix'tched at full
length upon the ground by the weight of the thickly-clustering
acorns. United with the Bear Oak, which is of the same size
and equally prolific, perhaps it might be cultivated with advan-
tage for its fruit.

PLATE XL

A branch vnth leaves and fruit of the natural size.
[See Nuttall's Supplement, vol. i. p. 33.]

LIVE OAK.

QuERCTJS viRENS. Q. folUs jjeremunidbus, coriacds, ovato-oblongis, junio-
rihus dentatis, vdustioribus inkgris; cupula iurbinald, squamulis ahhve-
riaiis ; glandc ohlongd.

Tins species, ■n-hicli is confined to the maritime parts of the
Southern States, the Floridas, and Louisiana, is known only by
the name of Live Oak. The climate becomes mild enough for
its growth near Norfolk in Virginia, though it is less multiplied
and less A'igorous than in a moi'e southern latitude. From
Norfolk it spreads along the coast for a distance of 1500 or ISOO
miles, extending bojond the mouth of the Mississippi. The
sea-air seems essential to its existence, for it is rareh' found in
the forests upon the mainland, and never more than fifteen or
twenty miles from the shore.

It is the most abundant, the most fulh'-developed, and of the
liest quality, about the bays and creeks and on the fertile islands
wliich in great numbers lie scattered for several hundred miles
along tlie coast. I particularly observed it on the islands of St.
Simon, Cumberland, Sapelo, etc., between the St. John and the
St. Mar3', in an excursion of 400 or 500 miles in a canoe from
Cape Canaveral in East Florida to Savannah in Georgia. I
frequentl}- saw it upon the beach, or half l)uried in the movable
sands upon the downs, where it had preserved its freshness and
Aigor, though exposed during a long lapse of time to the fury of
the wintry tempest and to the ardor of the summer's sun.

The Live Oak is commonly forty or forty-five feet in height
and I'rom one to two feet in diameter; but it is sometimes much
larger. Mr. S., President of the Agricultural Society of Charles-
ton, assured me that he had felled a trunk, hollowed by age,
which was twenty-four feet in circumference. Like most other
trees, it has, when insulated, a wide and tufted sunnnit. Its

hive (Jak.

^jicrcus i/ireixs.

LIVE OAK. 53

trunk is somotimos undivided for eighteen or twenty feet, but
often ramifies at half this lieight, and at a distance lias the ap-
pearance of an old Apple-tree or Pear-tree. The leaves are
oval, coriaceous, of a dark green above and whitish beneath;
they persist during several years, and are partially renewed
every spring. On trees reared upon plantations, or growing in
cool soils, they are one-half largei", and are often denticulated ;
upon stocks of two or three years tliey are commonly very dis-
tinctly toothed.

The acorns are of an elongated oval form, nearly black, and
contained in shallow, grayish, pedunculated cups. The Indians
are said to have expressed an oil from them to mingle with
their food; perhaps, also, they ate the kernel, which, though not
agreeable to the taste, is less rough and bitter than that of
many other species. The fruit is sometimes very abundant,
and it germinates with such ease that, if the weather is rainj- at
the season of its maturity, many acorns are found upon the trees
with the radicle unfolded.

The bark upon the trunk is blackish, hard, and thick. Tlie
wood is heavy, compact, fine-grained, and of a yellowish color,
which deepens as the tree advances in age. Tlie number and
closeness of the concentrical circles evince the slowness of its
growth. As it is very strong, and incomparalaly more durable
than the best White Oak, it is highly esteemed in shijj-buikling,
and is consumed not only in the country which produces it
luit still more extensively in the Northern States. From its
great durability when perfectly seasoned it is almost exclusively
employed for the upper part of the frame. To compensate its
excessive weight it is joined with the Eed Cedar, which is ex-
tremely light and equally lasting.

The Live Oak does not afford large timber ; but its wide and
liranching summit makes amends for this disadvantage by fur-
nishing a great number of Ivuees, of which there is never a suf-
licient quantity in the dock-yards.

54 LIVE OAK.

The vessels built at New York and Plulaclelpliia, with the
upper frame of Eed Cedar and Live Oak and the lower timbers
of White Oak, are as durable as those constructed of the best
materials in Europe. Brekel, whom I have already quoted,
says that the best tree-nails are of Live Oak; but at present it
is replaced, in the Southern States, by the Locust and the heart
of the long-leaved Pine.

In the South, particularly at Charleston and Savannah, this
species is used for the naves and felloes of heav}- wheels, for
wliicli it is far superior to the White Oak; it is more proper,
also, for screws and for the cogs of mill-wheels.

The bark is excellent for tanning, but is only accidentally
emploj'^ed.

Besides the Live Oak timber exported to England, great
cpiantities are used in ship-building in the L^nited States, par-
ticularly at Boston, New Yorlv, Philadelphia, and Baltimore.
The consumption has trebled within twenty years, in conse-
c|uence of the immense development of American commerce.
Hence the price has doubled, and the species is rapidh' diminish-
ing. The clearing of the islands for the culture of cotton, which
they yield of a superior quality, has contributed greatly to its
destruction. It is already difficult to procure sticks of consider-
able size in the Southern States, and they are sought on the
western coast of East Florida between the St. Mary and the St.
John. From St. Augustine to the Cape the species is rarer;
but we are informed that it abounds on the shores of West
Florida, whither the English of the Bahama Islands resort for
supplies.

As the Live Oak, from the peculiarities of its construction,
is multiplied with difficult}-, I cannot but consider its dis-
appearance throughout the United States Avithin fifty years as
nearh' certain. It will then be found only in the form of a
shrub, like the Quercus ilex, which formerly skirted the southern
coast of France and Italy.

n i3.

Cork Oak.

■/.,-,.•/ ..-.n/f

CORK OAK. 55

[Every individiuil that has access to Government authorities
in successive administrations should urge the planting of this
most valuable tree. Since our author penned the above re-
marks, great havoc has been committed on our Southern coast
for want of Government protection. The tree is produced in
Texas; but from there also its disappearance may be deemed
almost certain.]

PLATE XIl.

A branch uith leaves and fruit of the natural size.
[See Nuttall's Supplement, vol. i. pp. 28, 29.]

CORK OAK.

QuERCUS SUBER. Q. folUs ovato-oUongis, inclicisis, serralis, subtus glaucis ;
corticc riinoso, fungoso.

The Cork Oak grows naturally in the southern parts of
France, in Spain, Portugal, Italy, and the States of Barbary,
which are comprised between the 44th and 35th degrees of lati-
tude. It rarely exceeds forty feet in height and three feet in
diameter. Its leaves are evergreen, but the greater part of
them fall and are renewed in the spring; they are ovate, thick,
slightly toothed, of a light green on the upjjer surface and
glaucous beneath. The acorns are rather large, oval, and half
enclosed in a conical cup, and, being of a sweetish taste, are
eagerly devoured by swine.

The wood is hard, compact, and heavy, but less durable than
that of the Common European Oak, particularly when exposed
to humidity. The worth of the tree resides in its bark, which

56 C 0 R K . 0 A K.

begins to be taken oil' at the age of twenty-five }-ears. Tlie first
growth is of little value; in ten Aears it is renewed; but the
second product, though less cracked than the first, is not thick
enough for corks, and is used only b}^ fishermen to buoy up their
nets. It is not till the tree is forty-five or fiftj- years old that
the bark possesses all the qualities requisite for good corks, and
from that period it is collected once in eight or ten jears. Its
thickness is owing to the extraordinary swelling of the cellular
tissue. It is better fitted than any other substance for the use
to which it is appropriated, as its elasticity exactly" adapts it to
the neck of the Ijottle and its impenetrable structure refuses exit
to the fluid.

July and August are the seasons for gathering it. For tliis
purpose two opposite longitudinal incisions are made through the
whole length of the trunk, and two others, transverse to the
first, at the extremities; the bark is then detached by inserting
a hatchet-handle shaped like a wedge. Great care must be
taken not to wound the alburnum, as the bark is never renewed
upon the injured parts. After being scraped, the bark is heated
on its convex side and laden with stones, to flatten it and render
it easier of transportation. In Catalonia it is cut into pieces
and boiled to improve its quality. Its excellence consists in
being compact, supple, and elastic, and it should be from fifteen
to twenty lines thick.

The cork produced in France may be reckoned at 17,000 or
18,000 quintals, and when the sheets are smooth and even each
quintal afibrds 7000 or 7500 corks eighteen lines long. The
common price is a dollar and seventy cents a thousand, of which
fifty cents must be allowed for the expense of making. It is
computed that 110 or 115 millions of corks are annually con-
sumed in France.

This tree would be an important acquisition to the United
States, and would grow wherever the Live Oak subsists. The
soil of the pine-barrens is in general too meagre to sustain its

C 0 R K 0 A K. 57

vegetation; the bed of vegetable mould is in many places
too thin, and the sand beneath so homogeneous that the roots
of the Pines, instead of shooting downward, fold themselves
back, as if repelled by a solid rock.

Both public and private interest require the inhabitants of
the Southern coast, and especially the neighboring islands, to
rear the Cork Oak about their plantations and in places that are
unfit for the cultivation of cotton. It should also be introduced
into West Tennessee, and with the more reason as the Vine may
be cultivated there with success.

As the young stocks are injured by transplanting, they should
be permanently fixed the second or third year. To f;ivor their
gi'owth, the earth should be loosed about the roots two or three
times a year; and, to render them tall and well shaped, the
lower branches should be cut even Avith the trunk. Their
vegetation is in this manner strengthened and the bark im-
proved; without further attention they will continue to afford a
valuable product during two or three centuries.

This tree has great advantages over several others which
w'ould likewise floui'ish in the same parts of the United States,
such as the Olive and the White Mulberry. To fit their pro-
ducts for consumption, particularly that of the Mulberry, requires
complicated pi'ocesses, which can be performed with advantage
only in populous countries. Hence the attempts made seventy
or eighty years ago in Georgia to introduce the rearing of silk-
worms 23roved abortive; and the old White Mulberry-trees that
still remain are monuments of that ill-calculated sjieculation.
The bark of the Cork Oak, on the contrary, might be trans-
ported to the Northern States, or made into corks upon the spot
by a simple operation performed by a single person with imple-
ments of which the price does not exceed two or three dollars.

[It gives us pleasure to record here that the acorn of the Cork
Oak has been introduced into the Southern States by importa-

I.— 4*

58 WILL 0 W C) A K.

tions made at the rateiit-Oflice. This first efTort should be fol-
lowed by others, till -vve are independent of foreign countries
for an article of prime importance.]

PLATE XIIL

A branch vnth leaves and fruit of the natural size.

WILLOW OAK.

QuERCUS piiELLOS. Q. foliis Uneari-lanceolaiis, integerrimis, glahris, apice
setaceo-aciiminatis, junioribus dentatis lobaiisve; cupula sadcllatd ; glande
subrotundd, minima.

This species, which is remarkable for its foliage, makes its
first appearance in the environs of Philadelphia; but it is more
common and of a larger size in Virginia, the Carolinas, and
Georgia, where the milder temperature of the winter is eAd-
dently favorable to its growth. It is seen, however, only in the
maritime parts of those States, and is a stranger to the inland
districts, where the surf\xce is mountainous and the climate
more severe. From the analogy of soil and climate, it is
probably found in Lower Louisiana ; but I have never observed
it beyond the Alleghanies in Kentuck}' and Tennessee.

The Willow Oak commonly grows in cool moist places, and,
with the Tupelo, the Small Magnolia, the Eed-flowering Maple,
the Eed Bay, and the Water Oak, it borders the swamps in the
lower part of the Southern States. Li these situations it attains
its greatest expansion, which is fifty or sixty feet in height and
from twenty to twenty-four inches in diameter. The trunk,
even at an advanced age, is covered with a smooth bark, re-

J'/. 4"

/fJAu^outc M.

Willow Oak.

W I L L 0 AV 0 A K. 59

markable for the thickness of its cellular tissue. The leaves
are two or three inches long, of a light green, smooth, narrow,
entire, and similar to those of the Willow, whence is derived
the name of Willow Oak, which is used in every part of North
America w^here the tree is known.

Though the Willow Oak, as I have just observed, is almost
alwa^'s seen in moist grounds, by an exception for which it is
difficult to account it is sometimes found among the Live Oaks,
near the sea, in the dryest and most sandy soils. At a distance
it resembles the Live Oak in its shape and in its foliage, which
persists during several years; but on a closer examination it is
easily distinguished by the form of its leaves, which are shorter
and much narrower, and by the porous texture of its wood.

The fruit of this species is rarely abundant; the acorns are of
a dark brown color, small, round, very bitter, and contained in
shallow cups lightly coated with scales; kept in a cool place
they preserve the faculty of germination for several months.

The wood is reddish and coarse-grained. It is too porous to
contain wine or spirituous liquor, and its staves are classed with
those of Eed Oak. The quantity, however, is small, as the
tree is so little multii^lied that alone it would not supply the
consumption for two years. Li some of the lower parts of Vir-
ginia, particularly in the county of York, it is found to possess
great strength and tenacity and to split less easily than the
White Oak; hence, after being thoroughly seasoned, it is em-
ployed for the felloes of wheels. These are the only uses to
which it seems adapted, and for these it is less jjroper than the
Post Oak and White Ash. On several plantations near Augusta.
in Georgia, the fences are made partly of Willow Oak, which lasts
only eight or nine years. As fuel, it is sold at the lowest price.

PLATE XIV.

A branch until leaves and fruit of the natural size.
[See Nuttall's Supplement, vol. i. p. 2(i.]

LAUREL OAK.

QuEKCcs ixMBRiCAKiA. Q. folcis suhscssUibus, ovali-ollonf/is, acuiis, inte-
ger rliais, nitidis ; glande subhemisphoeiicd.

East of the Allcglianies this species is rare, and has received
no specific name; west of the mountains, where it is more mul-
tiplied and has attracted more attention, it is called Jack Oak,
Black Jack Oak, and sometimes, from the form of its leaves,
Laurel Oak. The last denomination I have preserved as the
most appropriate, though perhaps it is less common than the
first.

I observed this tree for the first time in Pennsylvania, near
Bedford, on the Juniata, upon the road from Philadelphia to
Pittsburg; and it does not exist in the more northern States. I
found it abundant only beyond the mountains, and particularly
near Washington Court-house, and in some parts of Kentucky
and Tennessee. From my father's observations, it appears to be
more multiplied in the countrj^ of the Illinois than in the places
I have just mentioned, and it is called by the French Chine a
htftes, — Lath Oak.

In the western parts of Pennsylvania and Virginia, small
lawns, covered only with tall grass, are frequently seen in the
forests, around which the Laurel Oak forms entire groves; insu-
lated stocks are also found in cool, humid situations. It is pro-
bable, from its flourishing in open exposures, that it is most
abundant in the country of the Illinois, which consists of im-
measurable savannas stretching in every direction, to which the
forests bear no sensiljle proportion.

The Laurel Oak is forty or fifty feet high and twelve or fifteen

inches in diameter. Its trunk, even when old, is clad in a

smooth bark, and for three-fourths of its height is laden with

branches. It has an uncouth form when bared in the Avinter,
GO

I^/m.

JfJJI„/„„U ,M

Laairel Oak.

Oih -n II, <■ i/n />! vc V 1/ •!( z .

yj.y„..^o

J'/ id

r.r/M^it^'J,/.

rplaiul Willow Oak

Oil a '(//,'• I'liuTcd .

UPLAND WILLOW OAK. 61

but is beautiful in the summer when clad in its thick, tufted
foliage. The leaves are long, lanceolate, entire, and of a light,
shining green.

The Avood is hard and heavy, though its pores are open. As
the trunk is branchy and often crooked, it is considered,
■wherever I have observed it, as fit onh- for fuel ; but my fiither,
who first described it, says that the French of Illinois use it for
shingles. Probably in that region it attains much greater dimen-
sions; but in my opinion the want of better species only can
account for its use. Its wood is inferior to that of the Willow
Oak, which it nearly resembles.

This tree has no mei'it but its singular foliage ; and it deserves
the attention only of amateurs desirous of adorning their rural
retreats with a variety of exotic trees.

PLATE XV.

A branch with Imvcs and f nut of the natural size.

UPLAND WILLOW OAK.

QuERCUS ciNEREA. Q- folUs pctioltttis, lanccoluto-ohlongis, acutis, integcrri-
mis, subtus cinerco-pubescentibas ; cupula scutclUUd ; glande subhcnii-
s2)hcErica.

The Upland Willow Oak is confined to the maritime parts of
the Southern States. It is little multiplied in comparison with
many other species, and is dispersed in small groups in the
forests of White Pine. It is found also upon the sea-shore, and
upon the islands, where it covers tracts of several acres still
more barren than the main. But tlie stocks which grow in

62 UPLAND WILLOW OAK.

tlicsc difll'reiit .situations are so different in appearance that they
might easily be mistaken for distinct species: in i\\Q pute-harrens
they are eighteen or twenty feet high and four or five inches in
diameter, with the leaves entire, two and a half inches long,
and whitish underneath; on the islands and on the shore of the
continent, where the soil is extremeh' dry, as near "Wilmington,
N.C., they are only three or four feet in height, and the leaves
are denticulated, are an inch in length, and persist for two years.
I have ascertained that both varieties belong to the same species,
by examining the sprouts of the larger stocks in the plue-hurrens,
of which the foliage is perfectly similar to that of the smaller
ones on the shore.

The Upland Willow Oak is one of the abject trees that suc-
ceed the Pines on lands which have been cleared for cultivation
and abandoned on account of their steriUty. In these places,
as m the pine-barrens, it is twenty feet in stature, and its trunk,
crooked and covered with a thick Ijark, begins at a third of this
height to divide by numerous ramifications. In the spring it is
distinguished at a distance by the reddish color of its leaves and
male aments. The acorns, which are contained in shallow cups,
are round and blackish, Avith the base of a bright rose-color
when freshly exposed. It is rare to meet with a tree which
yields a c[uart of fruit.

The bark of this species, like that of the Black Oak, afibrds
a beautiful 3?ellow dye; but the tree is so small and so little
multiplied that it is of no utility in this respect, nor even for
fuel.

The QuercKS nann of Willdcnow is certainly the smaller
variety of this species.

PLATE XVI.

A branch vith leaves and. fruit of the natural size. Fig. 1. A leaf of the
smaller variety of the natural size.

Jl .' Jlnl„„l,- ,/,/ ■

l\uniiiu«v Oak

Oiiriiii,'- niinii/ii

RUNNING OAK.

ycERCus PUMILA. Q. foUis dcciduis, lanceolatis, integerrimis, hasi attemir
aits, apice dilataiis ; cupula scutellatd ; glande subhemisphcBricd,

Quercus sericea. Wili.p.

Tuis species, which is I'arely more than twenty inches in
height and two lines in diameter, is the smallest Oak hitherto
discovered in the Old or the New World. Like the Upland
Willow Oak, it is confined to the maritime parts of the Carolinas,
Georgia, and the Floridas, where it is called Running Oak. It
springs with that species in the inne-harrens, amid the numerous
varieties of Whortleberry and other plants which overspread the
ground wherever there is a little moisture in the soil and the
layer of vegetable mould is a few inches thick.

The leaves of this dwarfish shrub are of a reddish tint in the
spring and turn green as the season advances. When fully
developed they are entire, smooth, of an elongated oval shape,
and about two inches in length. The acorns are small, round,
and similar to those of the Willow and Water Oaks; they are
few in number, because the stem is burned to the surface of the
ground, almost every spring, by the fire wdiich is kindled in the
forests to consume the dead grass. As this species belongs to
the division Avhose fructification is biennial, the acorns are
destroyed before they arrive at maturity.

My own observations, and those of Messrs. Bosc and Delille,
distinguished botanists who resided several yeai's in the southern
part of the United States, have led me to consider the Euuning
Oak as a distinct species, and not as a variety of the Willow
Oak, as my father has treated it in his Monograpliy of this im-
portant genus. It is hardly necessary to remark that from its

size it can be interesting only to botanists.

63

a B A R T R A M 0 A K.

[In [situations where it is not liable to being burned, as de-
scribed above, this plant is very prolific of acorns j and it has
been suggested that it might be cultivated for its fruit. It
sometimes covers tracts of more than 100 acres in extent, along
with the Bear Oak. It is well worthy of cultivation in small
villa gardens or miniature arboretums.]

PLATE XVII.

A brancli irith Icarcs and fruit of the natural size.

BARTRAM OAK.

CjuERCus HETEROPiiYLLA. Q. foUis long^ jKtiolatis, ovato-Ianccolatis,
intcgris vd iiurqualitcr dcntatis ; glandc suhylobosCi.

Evert botanist who has visited different regions of the globe
must have remarked certain species of vegetables w'hich are so
little multiplied that they seem likely at no distant period to
disappear from the earth. To this class belongs the Bartram
Oak. Several English and American naturalists who, like my
father and myself, have spent ^-ears in exploring the United
States, and who have obligingly communicated to us the result
of their observations, have, like us, found no traces of this
species except a single stock in a field belonging to Mr. Bartram,
on the banks of the Schuylkill, four miles from Philadelphia.
This is a flourishing tree, thirty feet in height and eight inches
in diameter, and seems formed to attain a much greater develop-
ment. Its leaves are of an elongated oval form, coarsely and
irregularly toothed, smooth above, and beneath of a dark green.

Rai'trani's Oak .

(J/II-/C//,'- /u-ff/'tw/iMi

ri.i:).

Water Oak

WATER 0 A K. 65

The acorns are round, of a middle size, and contained in shallow
cups lightly covered with scales.

I was at first disposed to consider this tree as a variety of the
Laurel Oak, to which it bears the greatest affinity; but the
leaves of that species are never indented, and not a stock of it
exists within a hundred miles of Philadelphia.

Several young plants, which I received from Mr. Bartram
himself, have been placed in our public gardens to insure the
preservation of the species.

PLATE XVIII.

A branch loith leaves and fruit of the natural size.

[See Nuttall's Supplement, vol. i. p. 24, by which it appears
that this tree has been discovered near Cincinnati, Ohio. Ac-
cording to Median's Hand-Book of Trees, the specimen at Bar-
tram's Garden is seventy feet high and six feet in circumference.]

WATER OAK.

yUERCUS AQUATICA. Q. folus ohovali-cuneatis, hasi acutis, summitaie
subintegris, varihe irilobis, glabris ; cupula modice crateratd ; glande
subglobosd.

This species first attracted my attention in the forests near
Richmond in Virginia; it becomes more common in proceeding
southward, and abounds in the lower parts of the Carolinas and
Georgia and in East Florida. Under the name of Water Oak it
is sometimes confounded with the Willow Oak, by which it is
always accompanied in the ponds and narrow swamps enclosed

66 WATER 0 A K.

in tlie p'lne-lxirrens. It is inferioi- in size to tlie Willow Oak,
and rarely exceeds forty or forty-five feet in laeight and twelve
or eigiiteen inches in diameter. On full-grown trees tlie leaves
are smooth, shining, and pyriform, — or broad and rounded at
the summit and terminated in an acute angle at the base. In
the severe climate of Virginia they fall with the first frost ; but
on the sea-shore of the Carolinas, Georgia, and Florida, they
persist during two or three years. There is no Oak in the
United States of which the foliage is so variable and so different
from that of the tree on the young stocks, and on the sprouts
from an old trunk or from the base of a limb that has been
lopped: the leaves are commonly oval and deeply and irregu-
larly toothed.

The acorns, which are contained in shallow, slightly-scaly
cups, are brown, small, and extremely bitter: the largest tree
rarely yields more than five or six quarts. Like those of the
Willow Oak, when kept cool they preserve their fecundity for
several months.

The bark upon the oldest trunks is smooth and very slightly
furrowed; it is little used in tanning, either because it is inferior
to that of the Spanish Oak or because the tree is less abundant.

The wood is very tough, but less durable and less esteemed by
carpenters and wheelwrights than that of the White Oak and
Chestnut White Oak.

As this species is destitute of interest, it will probabl}^ become
extinct, like manj^ others which are rapidly diminishing. Iq
France it would flourish only in the southern departments.

PLATE XIX,

A branch u'Uh leaves aiulfmU of the natural size.
[See Nuttall's Supplement, vol. i. p. 33.]

I'.hu'k Jack Oak

('//< /(li.'' /?/ /-/tiri/iti! .

BLACK JACK OAK.

QuERCUS FEREUGINEA. Q. foliis coriaccis, summitate dilatatis, rctuso-sub-
Irilobis, basi rctusis, suhtus rubiginoso-pulveruUntls ; cupula lurUimid,
squamis obiusis, scariosis; glamle breci ocaid.

Quercus nigra. Willp.

I OBSERVED this species for the first time in the forests near
Alleutown and Cranberry', small towns of New Jersey, aljout
sixty miles east of Philadelphia; but it is smaller and less mul-
tiplied than fixrther south. In New Jersey and Philadelphia it
is called Barren Oak, and Black Jack Oak in Maryland and the
more Southern States. I have adopted the last of these names
only because it is the most generally used, and have changed
the specific epithet nigra, because the name of the Black Oak is
appropriated in the United States to the Quercus tincforia.

This species is commonly found upon soils composed of red
argillaceous sand mingled with gravel, and so meagre as to be
totally exhausted Ijy five or six ci'ops when they are thought
worthy of cultivation. Unhappily, from Baltimore to the bor-
ders of North Carolina — an extent of four or five hundred miles
— the greater part of Maryland and Virginia consists of this
soil. The whole of this interval, with the exception of the
valleys and the swamps with their surrounding acclivities, is
covered with forests impoverished by fire and the cattle that
subsist in them during a great part of the year. They are com-
posed principally of Yellow Pine, Post Oak, Black Oak, and
Scarlet Oak. In the Caroliuas and Georgia, where the soil gra-
dually improves in retiring from the shore toward the moun-
tains, the same trees form a band fifteen or twenty miles wide,
between the iiine-harrens and the forests of a more generous
growth. In Kentucky and Tennessee the Black Jack Oak is
seen only in the savannas, where it is widely diff'used, and

68 BLACK JACK OAK.

■where, preserved by the thickness of its bark and its insidated
position, it survives the conflagrations that ahnost every year
consume the grass: the fire, driven forward by the Avind, has
only time to devour its foliage. In the p/He-Jfore/^s it grows
chiell}' on the edges of the brand i-swamiys, where the soil is a
little stronger than is necessary for the Pines. With the
Upland Willow Oak and the Scrub Oak, it possesses itself of
the pine-lauds that have been cleared for cultivation and aban-
doned on account of their sterility; and in these situations it is
larger than in the forests.

The Black Jack Oak is sometimes thirty feet high and eight
or ten inches in diameter, but commonly does not exceed half
these dimensions. Its trunk is generally crooked, and is covered
with a very hard, thick, and deej)ly-furrowed bark, of which the
epidermis is nearly black and the cellular tissue of a dull red.
The summit is spacious even in the midst of the woods. The
leaves are yellowish, and somewhat downy at their unfolding in
the spring; when fully expanded they are of a dark green above,
rusty beneath, thick, coriaceous, and dilated toward the summit
like a pear. In the autumn they turn reddish and fall with the
earliest frost.

The oldest ti-ees bear only a few handfuls of acorns, winch
are large and half covered with very scal}^ cujis.

When the stock is more than eight inches in diameter the
wood is heavy and compact, but coarse-grained and porous
before it has reached this size. As it speedily decays when
exposed to the weather, it is not used in the arts. It forms
excellent fuel, and is sold at Philadelphia only one dollar a cord
less than Hickory, while other kinds of wood are a third cheaper.

The species deserves the attention of amateurs in Europe for
the singularity of its foliage.

PLATE XX.

A branch icilh leaves and fruii of (he natural size.

Picar's Oak

BEAR OAK.

QuERCus BANiSTERi. Q. foUis lo)ige petiolatis, acutangulo-quinquc-lohis,
margine integris, sublus cinctris; cupula subturhinatd ; glandc sub-
globosd.

This diminutive species is known in the Northern and Middle
States by the names of Bear Oak, Black Scrub Oak, and Dwarf
Red Oak, of which the first is the most common in New Jersey,
where the shrub abounds. The Latin specific name was given
it in honor of Banister, an English writer, by whom it was first
introduced to notice.

I do not remember to have seen the Bear Oak in the lower
part of the Southern States ; it is common in those of the North,
and still more so, I believe, in New York, New Jersey, and
Pennsylvania. I have more particularly observed it at Fishkill,
Catskill, and Albany in New York, near Paramus in New Jer-
sey, and on that part of the Alleghanies in Pennsylvania w^hich
is crossed by the road to Pittsburg. It is never found insulated
nor mingled with other shrubs in the forests, but always in
tracts of several hundred acres, which it covers almost exclu-
sively: a few stocks of the Dwarf Chestnut Oak are often
united with it.

The ordinary height of the Bear Oak is three or four feet ;
but, when accidentally insulated and nourished by a vein of
more fertile soil, it sometimes equals eight or ten feet. It usu-
ally grows in compact masses, which are traversed with diffi-
culty, though no higher than the waist. As the individuals
which compose them are of a uniform height, they form so even
a surfiice that at a distance the ground appears to be covered
with grass instead of shrubs.

The trunk, which is numerously ramified, is covered, like the

branches, with a polished bark. It has more strength than

09

70 E E A R C) A K.

Avould be supposed I'rom its size, wliich is rare!}- more than an
inch in diameter. The leaves are of a dark green on the upj^er
.surface, whitish beneath, and regularly divided into three or
five lobes. The acorns are small, blackish, and longitudinally
marked with a few reddish lines : they are so abundant as some-
times to cover the branches. The lowly stature of the shrub
renders it easy for bears, deer, and swine to reach them by liftr
ing their heads or I'ising on their hindfeet.

The presence of this Oak is considered as an infallible index
of a barren soil; and it is usually found on dry, sandy laud
mingled with gravel. It is too small to be adapted to any use;
but near Goshen, on the road to New York, I observed an
attempt to turn it to advantage by planting it about the fields
for the purpose of strengthening the fences. Though this ex-
periment seemed to have fliiled, I believe the Bear Oak might
be usefully adopted in the Northern States for hedges, which
might be formed from twenty to twenty-four inches thick, by
sowing the acorus in three parallel furrows. They would be
perfected in a short time, would be agreeable to the eye, and
probably would be sufficient to prevent the passage of horses
and cows. Hedges of the European thorn would doubtless be
preferaljle; but they require a good soil and more la1)or than
can at present be afforded in America : those that exist in the
neighlxii'hood of Philadelphia are left in a condition which
would give a very unftxvorable opinion of the farmer on whose
lands they Avere seen in the North of France.

As the Bear Oak grows on the most sterile soils and resists
the most intense cold and impetuous winds, perhaps it might
serve to shelter the infancy of other more valuable trees in such
exposures. The want of some protection is the greatest ob-
stacle to the success of plantations on the downs, as I was told,
near the Hague upon the coast of Holland.

Proprietors of large estates, who are addicted to the chase,
might find this species and the Dwarf Chestnut Oak convenient

P!.2%.

1/ I J!.-./.:,;,. ,/.

Barrens Scrub (hik.

(K/rrc//,!' rit.i.c.'iivi -

BARRENS SCRUB OAK. 71

for copses : they would afford nourishment to the game during
several months in the year, and would allow the sportsman a
fair aim at the birds as they rose upon the wing.

PLATE XXI.

A branch with leaves and fruit of the natural size.

BARRENS SCRUB OAK.

QuERCUS CATESB^i. Q. foliis hrevissime pctiokitis, hasi aiigustatis, anttis,
suhpalmato lobaiis, lobis interdhn subfalcatis ; cupula majusuld; squa-
viis marginalibus introflexis; glande brevi ovatd.

According to my own observations, this species is confined to
the lower part of the Carolinas and Georgia. I first saw it
a few miles south of Raleigh, N.C., latitude 35° 40'. It grows
in soils too meagre to sustain any other vegetation, such as the
vicinity of Wilmington, N.C., where the light movable sand is
wholly destitute of vegetable mould. It is the only species
multiplied in the inne-harrens, and from this circumstance it
seems to have derived its name.

In traversing these forests, I nowhere saw the Scrub Oak more
uniformly disseminated than between Fayetteville and Wil-
mington, an interval of sixty miles, where it forms nearly one-
tenth of the woods : the Pines themselves, throughout the bar-
rens, are scattered at the distance of fifteen or twenty feet.

The foliage of this tree is open, and its leaves are large,
smooth, thick, and coriaceous toward the close of summer,
deeply and irregularly laciniated, and supported by short
petioles. With the first frost they change to a dull red, and fall

72 BARRENS SCRUB OAK.

the ensuing month. The acorns are 2:)retty hirge, of a blackish
color, and partly covered with a fine gray dust, which is easily
rubbed oif between the fingers; they are contained in thick cups
swollen toward the edge, and distinguished from all other spe-
cies by having the upper scales bent inward. The oldest trees
alone are productive, and their fruit never exceeds a few hand-
fuls.

In the winter it is difficult to distinguish the Scrub Oak from
the Black Jack Oak, which it nearly resembles. Like that, it
is crooked, ramified at the height of two or three feet, and
covered with a thick, blackish, deeply-furrowed bark: it is,
besides, perfectly similar in the color, texture, and weight of its
wood. At Wilmington the Scrulj Oak is the best fuel, and is
sold separatel}-; but, notwithstanding its abundance in this
district, it is insufficient for the supply of the inhabitants. Its
size alone would exclude it from use in the arts.

The general character of this tree forbids the hopes of ad-
vantage that might be conceived from its flourishing upon the
most sterile soils.

PLATE XXII.

A branch with leaves andfndl of the natural size.

Sjiniiisli Oak

(h/l7< //.'■ /,//,-///<J ■

SPANISH OAK.

QuERCUS FALCATA. Q. fuliis longk. petiolalis, subpalmaio-lobaiis, subiiis
eximie iomeniosis, lobls falcatis ; cupula crateriformi ; glande subglobosd.

Quercus elongata. Willd.

This species, like the Black Jack Oak, begins to show itself
in New Jersey, near Allentown, about sixty miles from Phila-
delphia. But even at this distance it is smaller than in the
immediate vicinity of the city, where it acquires its perfect
development and where its leaves exhibit their appropriate
form. Farther south it is constantly found among the most
common trees in the forests. I have observed that it is less
multiplied near the mountains and in the country beyond them.
In Delaware, Maryland, and Virginia, it is known only by the
name of Spanish Oak, and in the Carolinas and Georgia by that
of Red Oak. In an old English work which I found in the
library of Charleston it is said to have been called Spanish Oak
by the first settlers, from the resemblance of its leaves to those
of the Quercus velani which grows in Spain. Whether this
etymology is just or not I am unable to say; but it is unknown
to the inhabitants who have adopted the name. The deno-
mination of Red Oak, which is used only in the more Southern
States, was probably given it on account of the great analogy
between its wood and that of the species thus called in the
Northern and Middle States, where the Spanish Oak is much
less common than in the South.

This tree is more than eighty feet in height and four or five
feet in diameter. Its leaves are very different on diflferent indi-
viduals: thus, in New Jersey, where the tree is only thirty feet
high and four or five inches thick, they are three-lobed, except
a few on the summit, and not falcated as on the large stocks in

74 S P A N I S li 0 A K.

the Southern States. On young plants, and on the lower branches
of the most vigorous stocks growing in moist and shaded situa^
tions, they are also trilol^ed; and on the upper limbs they are
more acutely laciniated, with the sections moi'e arching, than
those represented in the figure. This remarkable difference led
my Hither to describe as a distinct species, under the name of
Qutrcus triloba, the individuals whose foliage had not acquired
its perfect form. Sometimes on the sprouts of trees that have
been felled the leaves are deeply denticulated at right angles to
the main rib. One of their constant characters is a thick down
upon the lower side of the leaf and upon the young shoots to
which they are attached.

The acoi'ns are small, round, of a brown color, and con-
tained in slig'htl3"-scaly cups supported by peduncles one or two
lines in length. They resemble those of the Bear Oak, and, like
them, preserve for a long time the l;xculty of germination.

The bark upon the trunk is blackish and deeply furrowed,
with a cellular tissue of middling thickness. The Avood is red-
dish and coarse-grained, Avith empty pores and all the charac-
teristic properties of the species known in commerce by the
general name of Ked Oak : hence its staves are fit only to con-
tain molasses and proA'isions and drj^-goods. I have been told
that in the West Indies the Ked Oak staves from the Southern
States, where this species abounds, are the most esteemed ; from
which it seems probable that its wood is better than that of the
Red, Scarlet, and Black Oaks that furnish almost all the Red
Oak staves fi'om the Northern and Middle States: this supe-
riority, however, is not sufficiently marked to occasion a difler-
ence in the price.

From its Avant of duraljility, the Spanish Oak is less esteemed
than the White Oak, the Port Oak, and other species of annual
fructification. It is rarely employed in building, and is used
by Avheehvrights only at Baltimore, Avhei'e it is jpreferred to the
White Oak for the felloes of lar2;e Avheels.

S P A N I S II 0 A K. 75

The 2'>rinci23al merit of the Sjianish Oak, which gives it a
superiority over most other species in the United States, resides
in its bark. This is preferred for tanning coarse leather, which
it renders whiter and more supple; it is consequently sold at
Philadelphia and Wilmington a fourth dearer than that of the
other Oaks: the leather is said to be im^^roved by the addition
of a small quantity of the bark of the Hemlock Spruce.

The Spanish Oak is adapted to the climate of the centre of
France, if we may judge from its multiplication in the nurseries
and in the gardens of amateurs. The stocks that have sprung
from the acorns which I sent home during my residence in
America bear as yet only three-lobed leaves; but they will
become falcated at a maturer age.

From the inferiority of its wood, this species would not, in my
opinion, deserve a place in our forests, though its bark should
prove equal to that of the European Oak. But in the Southern
States, wdien some species of trees are to be multiplied in pre-
ference to others, the Spanish Oak alone should be spared among
the Red Oaks, as, besides its superiority in other respects, it has
the advantage of flourishing on lands of a middling quality,
such as compose a lai'ge part of that section of the United
States.

PLATE XXIII.

A branch with leaves and fruit of the natural size.

BLACK OAK.

QuERCus TixcTORiA. Q. foUis profimde sinuosis, subtas pulvcrukntis ;
capidd lurhinaid, squamosd ; glande brevi ocatd.

Except the district of Maine, the northern part of New
Hampshire, Vermont, and Tennessee, this species is found
throughout the United States on both sides of the Alleghanies,
and it is everywhere called Black Oak. It is more abundant in
the Middle States and in the upper part of the Caroliuas and
Georgia than on the Southern coast.

Tiie Black Oak flourishes in a poorer soil than the White
Oalv. In Maryland and certain districts of Virginia, wliere the
soil is lean, gravelly, and uneven, it is constantly united in the
forests with the Scarlet, Spanish, and Post Oaks, and the Mocker-
nut Hickory-, with which the Yellow Pine is also frequently
mingled.

This Oak is one of the loftiest trees of North America, being
eighty or ninety feet high and four or five feet in diameter.
The leaves are large, deepl}- laciniated, and divided into four or
fi^'e lobes: the}- resemble those of the Scarlet Oak, but have
less deep and open sinuses, are less shining, of a duller green,
and in the spring and during a part of the summer have their
surface roughened ^^atll small glands, which are sensible to the
eye and to the touch. The same appearance is observed on the
young shoots. I have remarked that the leaves of the young
stocks change in the autumn to a dull red, and those of the old
trees to A'ellow, beginning with the petiole.

The trunk is covered with a deeply-furrowed bark of middling
thickness, and always of a black or very deep brown color,
whence probabl}' is derived the name of the tree. Northeast
of Pennsylvania tlie complexion of tlie bark is the only cha-

("bone (lucrritroa.

(^//r/'ci/s f{//c/i'r/(l .

B L A C K 0 A K. 77

racter by which it can be distinguished from the Red, Scarlet,
and Gray Oaks, when the leaves are fallen. Farther south this
character is not sufficient to distinguish it from the Spanish
Oak, the bark of which is of the same color; and recourse must
be had to the buds, which, on the Black Oak, are longer, more
acuminate, and more scaly. All doubt may be removed by
chewing a bit of the cellular tissue of each; that of the Black
Oak is very bitter and gives a yellow tinge to the saliva, which
is not the case with the other.

The wood is reddish and coarse-grained, with empty pores: it
is, however, more esteemed for sti'ength and durability than that
of any other species of biennial fructification. At Philadelphia
it is employed, for want of White Oak, in building; and the
farmers of the Northern States, with false economy, substitute
it in the place of the White Oak for fences.

As this species is abundant in the Northern and Middle States,
it furnishes a large proportion of the Red Oah staves exported
to the colonies or employed at home to contain flour, salted pro-
visions, and molasses.

The bark is extensively used in tanning, as it is easily pro-
cured and is rich in tannin. The only inconvenience which
attends it is imparting a yellow color to the leather, which must
be discharged by a particular process, to prevent its staining the
stockings : it is a great error to assert that this color augments
its value.

From the cellular tissue of the Black Oak is obtained the
quercitron, of which great use is made in dyeing wool, silk, and
paper-hangings. According to several authors who have written
on this suljject, and, among others, Dr. Bancroft, to whom we
are indebted for this discovery, one part of quercitron yields as
much coloring-matter as eight or ten parts of woad. The decoc-
tion is of a brownish yellow, which is rendered deeper by alkali
and lighter by acids. A solution of alum causes a small portion
of the coloring-matter to fall in a deep yellow precipitate ; solu-

78 B L A C K 0 A K.

tions of tin afl'ord a more abundant precipitate of the same color
but of a much brighter hue.

To dje wood, it is sufficient to boil the quercitron with an
equal -sveight of alum : in dipping the stuff, the deepest shade is
gi^•en first, and afterward the straw-color ; to animate the tint,
the stuff' may be passed, in coming out of the dye, through water
Avhitened with a little Avashed chalk. A larighter color is obtained
by means of a solution of tin. Quercitron may be substituted
for woad in giving all the shades of yellow to silk ; the pro-
portion is one part by weight to twelve parts of silk. In the
advertisements of Philadelphia for February, 1808, this sul>
stance is rated at forty dollars a ton, and from that city chiefly
it is exported to Europe.

Though the wood of the Black Oak is of a better cpiality
than that of tlie Scarlet, Spanish, Red, Pin, Gray, Willow, and
Water Oaks, Avhich are all comprehended under the name of
Rvil Oal; it is much inferior to that of the European Oak. But
its stature, the rapidity of its growth in the coldest climates
and on the most indifferent soils, and, above all, the value of
its bark in dyeing, recommend it poAverfully to the notice of
Eui-opean foresters.

[This Oak produces a small acorn, sometimes striped with
bars of a'cHoav and broAvn, in a very deep cup. The leaves
figured are such as can alwaj-s be found ou the young, lowei',
vigorous sprouts ; the leaves on old trees are deejaly lobed, —
almost as much so as those of the Scarlet Oak. Upon these, as
Avell as on those of the Red and Scarlet, are found smooth,
round, light excrescences, called oak-apples, from one to two
inches in diameter, formed by the extension of the cuticle of
the leaf They are produced by an insect, Cyni.s covjluentus,
which punctures the healthy leaf and deposits therein an egg,
about which the apple forms. "A single grub," says Harris,
'• lives in the kernel, becomes a chrysalis in the autumn, when

Scai-h-l Oak.

(^//(■/•i'//,'- ( t >(■('/ /1 1-1/ .

SCARLET OAK. 79

the oak-apple fiills from the tree, changes to a fiy in the spring,
and makes its escape out of a small round hole which it gnaws
through the kernel and shell.]

PLATE XXIV.

A leaf of the natural size.
Note. — Tlie small branch icith the acorns hclongs to the Scarlet Oak.

SCARLET OAK.

QuERCUS cocciNEA. Q. folUs longe jietiolatis, oblongis, jirofumU sinuatis,
glabris; lobis dentatis, acutis; cupuld insigniter squamosa; glande hrevi
ovatd.

The Scarlet Oak is first seen in the vicinity of Boston; but it
is less multiplied than in New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Virginia,
and the upper part of the Carolinas and Georgia, where it forms
a part of the forests that are still standing: it is much less
common in the lower parts of these States, which, as I have
already observed, produce nothing but Pines. I have not seen
it in the district of Maine, the States of New Hampshire and
Vermont, nor bej^ond Utica in Genesee. In the Northei-n
States it is confounded with the Eed Oak, and in those of the
South with the Spanish Oak. The name of Scarlet Oak was
given it by my father, and, though not in use by the inha-
bitants, it will probably be adopted, as the tree is evidently a
distinct species.

This is a vegetable of more than eighty feet in height and of
three or four feet in diameter. The leaves, which are supported
by long petioles, are of a beautiful green, smooth, shining on

80 S C A R L E T 0 A K.

l)()tli sides, and laciniated in a remarkable manner, having
nsually four deep sinuses very broad at the bottom. They
begin to change with the first cold, and, after sevei-al successive
frosts, turn to a bright red, instead of a dull hue like those of
the Ked Oak. At this season the singular color of the foliage
forms a striking contrast with that of the surrounding trees,
and is alone a sufficient inducement to cultivate the tree for
ornament.

The acorns are large, somewhat elongated, similarly rounded
at both ends, and half covered with scaly cups. As this fruit
varies in size with the quality of the soil, it is difficult to dis-
tinguish it from that of the Black Oak; the only constant dif-
ference is in the kernel, wdiich is yellowish in the Black Oak
and white in the Scarlet.

The wood of this Oak is reddish and coarse-grained, with
open pores. As it decays much more rapidly than the White
Oak, it is employed by the builder and wheelwright only from
necessity or economy. It is poor fuel, and is used principally
for staves. In the Middle States a large part of the Red Oah
staves are furnished by this species.

The bark, though very thick and generally employed in
tanning, is in no respect preferable to that of the Gray and Red
Oaks.

That this tree will flourish in France is shown by an example
at Eambouillet, where it makes part of a beautiful plantation
forty-five feet in height, formed in 1786, of species sent home by
my father soon after his arrival in the United States. It is to
be regretted that so fine a tree, which is so well adapted to our
soil, should afford such indiflerent wood that we cannot recom-
mend its introduction into the forests of Euro^je nor its preser-
vation in those of the United States.

[The leaves of the Scarlet Oak so much resemble those of the
Black that a novice will easily confound them. lu the Black

/'/ 2 6.

Gi'ay Oak.

<«^»-/.C«^'

G R A Y 0 A K. 81

the leaves are broader and fuller toward the ends, larger, more
nearly entire, and usually darker and thicker. In the Scarlet
Oak the leaves are fuller toward the middle, smaller, thinner,
more deeply cut, and of a lighter and livelier color; on small
plants esjjecially more deeply cut, but sometimes running down
along the footstalk: the footstalk is more slender and longer,
and both surfaces and the axils of the veins are always less
downy. In the fall the rich and beautiful deep scarlet color,
red dotted with crimson, or orange-scarlet, of the foliage of this
Oak, make it unmistakable from any other species.]

PLATE XXV.

A leaf of the natural size.
Note. — The acorns In this plate Iclong to the Black Oak.

GRAY OAK.

QuERCUs BOREALis. Q. folUs stnuatis, globris, sbiubus suhacutis ; cupulii
suhsciitcllatd ; glande turgide ovald.

The Gray Oak appears, by my father's notes, to be found
farther north than any other species in America: in returning
from Hudson's Bay he saw it on the St. Lawrence between
Quebec and Malabaie, in latitude 47° 50'. Under that parallel,
and near Halifax in Nova Scotia, where I first observed it, it is
not more than forty feet high; and, though the bloom is annual,
the winter is so rigorous and long that the fruit is said to be
matured only once in three or four years. Three degrees
f\xrther south, in Maine and New Hamjishire, and on the shores
of Lake Champlain in Vermont, it is more multijjlied, and is

82 • GRAY OAK.

fifty or sixty foot in height and eighteen inches in diameter.
It is called by the inhabitants Gray Oak; but it has been con-
founded by botanists with the Red Oak, to -which it bears a close
analogy in its foliage, as it does to the Scarlet Oak in its fruit :
on this resemblance I have founded the Latin specific name
amhigua.

The leaves are large, smooth, and deej^ly sinuated at right
angles to the main I'ib. The acorns are of the middle size,
rounded at the end, and contained in scaly cups.

The wood is similar to that of the other species included
under the common name of Red Oak. Its coarse and open
texture renders it unfit for any use except to contain dry
wares; but, in districts where Oak wood is rare, recourse is
had for other purposes to several species of inferior quality,
which are still superior to the Birch, the Beech, and the Pine.
Thus, the Gray Oak is employed for the Icnees of vessels and for
wheelwrights' work: it is even preferred to the Red Oak, as
being stronger and more durable.

This tree is without interest, as the regions in which it grows
possess other species in every respect more valuable, such as the
White Oak, the Swamp White Oak, and the Rock Chestnut Oak.

PLATE XXVI.

A hrancli ivith leaves and fruit of the natural size.

//.-

r.i n^joi,!.- M

Pill Oak.

PIN OAK.

QuERCUS PALUSTRis. Q. foliis i^rofundi. sinuatis, glabris, sinubus lads;
Jrucla -parvo ; cupula, scuicllaid, Icvi; glaiule subglobosd.

This species, like the precediug, grows iu Massachusetts,
but is less common than in the vicinity of New York, in
New Jersey, Pennsylvania, and Maryland. I saw it abundant
beyond the mountains near Pittsburg, in Ohio, and in East
Tennessee ; and my father found it multiplied in the country of
Illinois : I feel assured that it does not exist in Maine, Vermont,
and the Southern States. It is called Pin Oak in the lower part
of New York and in New Jersey, and Swamp Spanish Oak in
Pennsylvania, Delaware, and Maryland. The last of these de-
nominations is sufficiently appropriate; but I have preferred the
second, because it is less liable to mistake, and is indicative of a
characteristic arrangement of the branches.

The Pin Oak is a tall tree, which grows constantly in moist
places and prefers the swamps enclosed in the forests. In these
situations it is frequently more than eighty feet high and three
or four feet in diameter. Its secondary branches are more
slender and numerous than is common on so large a tree, and
are intermingled so as to give it at a distance the appearance of
l)eing stuffed. This singular disposition renders it distinguish-
able at first sight in the winter, and is perhaps the cause of its
being called Pin Oak. The leaves are smooth, of a pleasing
green, supported by long petioles, deeply laciniated, and very
similar to those of the Scarlet Oak, from which they differ prin-
cipally in their proportions. The acorns are small, round, and
contained in flat shallow cups, of which the scales are closely
applied one upon another.

The bark upon the oldest trunk is scarcely cracked, and con-
sists almost wholly of a very thick cellular tissue. The wood is

83

84 R E D 0 A K.

coarse-grained, ^vitll the pores open and larger than those of the
Scarlet and Red Oaks. Tliongh stronger and more tenacious
than those species, it is little esteemed for durability. It is used
for the shafts of mill-wheels when White Oak of sufficient dimen-
sions cannot be procured; it is also sometimes, though rarely,
made into staves, as the species is little multiplied compared
with the Scarlet, Eed, and Black Oaks.

The Pin Oak in its youth assumes an agreeable pyramidal
shape, and its light elegant foliage contributes greatly to its
beauty. It deserves a conspicuous place in parks and gardens.
It should never be deprived of its interior branches. The most
beautiful stock of this species with which I am acquainted in
Europe is in a garden near Antwerp: it was about twenty feet
high in 1804, and its brilliant and vigorous vegetation proved
how well the soil and climate were adapted to it.

PLATE XXVII.

A branch with Icaccs and frail of the natural size.

RED OAK.

QuEECus RUBRA. Q. foUis long^ petiolaiis, fflabris, obtusc smuatis ; nqmhl
scutdlatd, sublcevi; glandc subovaid.

Next to the Gray Oak, this species is found in the highest
latitude of all the American Oaks, and is one of the most com-
mon species in the Northern States and in Canada. Farther
south, particularly in the lower part of New York, in New
Jersey, the upper districts of Pennsjdvania, and along the Avhole
range of the AUeghanies, it is nearly as abundant as the Scarlet

/'/■2,\'

Ilcd Oak.

R E D 0 A K. 85

and Black Oaks; but it is mucli less common iu Maryland,
Lower Virginia, and the maritime parts of the Carolinas and
Georgia. This remark confirms an observation which I have
often made, — that its perfect development requires a cool
climate and a fertile soil. It is universally known by the name
of Red Oak, except near Lancaster in Pennsylvania, where it is
sometimes confounded with the Spanish Oak.

The Eed Oak is a tall, wide-spreading tree, frequently more
than eighty feet high and three or four feet in diameter. Its
leaves are smooth and shining on both sides, large, deeply hici-
niated, and rounded at the base. They are larger and have
deeper and narrower sections on the young stocks than on the
middle or the summit of the full-grown tree : these last resemble
the leaves of the Spanish Oak, which, however, are always
downy beneath, while those of the Red Oak are perfectly
smooth. In the autumn they change to a dull red, and turn
yellow before they fall.

The acorns are very large and abundant, rounded at the sum-
mit, compressed at the base, and contained in flat cups covered
with narrow, compact scales. They are voraciously devoured
by wild animals, and by the cows, horses, and swine which are
allowed to range in the woods after the herbage has perished.

The wood is reddish and coarse-grained, and the pores are
often large enough for the passage of a hair; it is strong but not
durable, and is the last among the Oaks to be employed in
building. Its principal use is for staves, which at home are
used to contain salted provisions, flour, and such dry wares as
are exported to the islands, and, in the colonies, to receive mo-
lasses and sugar.

The bark consists of a very tliin epidermis and a very thick
cellular tissue. It is extensively used in tanning, but is less
esteemed than that of the Spanish, Black, and Rock Chestnut
Oaks.

The Red Oak was one of the earliest American trees intro-

86 ADDITIONS TO THE OAKS.

duccd into Europe. Large stocks are found on the estate of
Duliamel, which yield seed abundantly and even multiply natu-
rally; but the quality of its wood is so inferior that I cannot
recommend its propagation in our forests.

[Tlie Red is the most northern of the Oaks, Dr. Eichardson
reporting it as far north as Saskatchawan and the rocks of Lake
Namakeen. Though its usefulness is not great, its beauty is
unsurpassed, as are also its dimensions, which give an idea of
nobility and strengtli. It gi'ows rapidly from stoles, sometimes
six feet in a season.]

PLATE XXVIII.

A branch uilh leaves and fruit of the natural size.

ADDITIONS TO THE OAKS.

In the Flora America; SeptentrionaJis of Pursh, published in
England in 1814, the following species of Oak are added to
those which I have described : —

QcERcrs MARITIMA. Q. foUis percnnaiiithns, coriaccis, integerrhnis, (jtabris, basi
alteniicUis, apice nmcronaiis ; aqmlci scnlellatd; fflande snhroiimdd.

A shrub from three to eight feet high, found on the sea-coast
in Virginia and Carolina. I consider it as a variety of the

Willow Oak, Querciis pMJos.

QuERCUS MVRTIFOLIA. Q. folUs pcren7ianiibiis, coriacels, oblongts, micijcrrimis, rjla-
bris, vtvinque acuiis, srijtra nitidis, margine rcvolutis.

Tliis species, of which Mr. Pursh appeal's to have seen neither
the blossoms nor the acorns, escaped my researches : perhaps it

ADDITIONS TO THE OAKS. 87

is the variety of the Watei- Oak which I found among the Live
Oaks, and which preserves its leaves for three or four years.

QoERCUS HEMisPH^RiCA. Q. folUs peremiantibus, ohlongo-lanceolaiis, trilobis sinuatis-
que, lohis mucronaiis, uirinque glahris. Willd.

Mr. Pursh has inserted this species from Willdenow, and be-
lieves it to be a variety of the Water Oak, Quercus aquatica.

QpERcns NANA. Q. folHs cuneijormis, glahris, apice trilobis, basi subsiimaiis, lobis,
divaricatis, mucronaiis, intermedio maj'ore; cupula scutellatd.

According to Mr. Pursh, this species is a low-growing shrub,
distinct from the Water Oak, Quercus aquatica.

Quercus discolor. Q. foliis oblongis, piiinai ifido-siuuatis, subtus puhescentibus, lobis
oblongis, deniads, setaceo-mucronalis ; cvpulCi iurhiiiatd.

This species of Mr. Pursh I consider as a variety of the
Quercus tincforia.

OAKS found in New Spain by Messrs. Humboldt and Bonpland,
and described in their " Nova Genera et Species Plantarum."
Paris, 1816.

Quercus confertifolia. Q. ramidi.': abbrcriatis; foliis brevissime petiolatis. con-
fertis, lanceolaiis, acuminatis, miirroiiiil'i-di-i.s/u/i.i. infegerrimis, coriaceis; margiiie sub-
reflexis, subtus pubescentibtis; frudiUria .snbgniiini.i, sessilibics.

This tree is ten or twelve feet in height: it is evergreen,
grows in the temperate and mountainous regions of New Spain,
between Guanajuato and Santa Rosa, and fructifies in September.

QuERCUi CRASSIPES. Q. ramulis iubercnlosis ; foliis breviler petiolatis, lanceolato-
ohlongis, mucronaiis, basi rotundatis, iniegerrimis, coriaceis, siMus cincreo-tomentosis ;
fnictibus peduncidatis sidjgeminis ; pedunadis incrassatis ; cupulis subtitrbinaii-s.

This tree is about twent}^ feet high : it is found on the low
mountains of New Spain, near Santa Rosa, and fructifies in
September and October.

Quercus Mexicana. Q. 7'amidis foliisqtie, svbtiis stellafim puhescentibus, supra nitidis,
lineari-ohlongis, acutis, submucronatis, subcordatis, ■undulatn-subsinuatis, subcoriaceis ;
fructibus solitariis, breviter peduncidatis ; cupidis cyathiformibus.

This species rises from fifteen to twenty feet: it is very

88 ADDITIONS TO THE 0 xV K S.

almndant Ijetwccn Acapulco and the city of Mexico, near Mojo-
iiera, Quajiiiiquilapa, and Chilpalcingo, and is also found near
Moran, Regla, Guanajuato, and Santa Eosa: it fructifies iu
September.

QcERcrs i.AN'CEOLATA. Q. ramnlis iuhcrcidalis ; JoUis ohlongo-hnceolatis, idrinqiie
aculis, V nduUtto-repandis, coriaceis, stipra nitidis, sublus sidlatim pvhcsceniibus ; fruclihus
suhfernis, brevissime pedunculaiis ; mptdis cijailiiformibus.

This tree ecjuals and sometimes exceeds twenty feet in height :
it aljounds in the temperate regions of Mexico, between Moran
and Santa Eosa, where it forms immense forests : it fructifies iu
September.

QcERCUs TRIDEXS. Q. rainis Icevibxis ; foliis oblongis, basi rottindatix, apice mspidafo-
Iridenfatis, membranaceis, svpra pubescent ibus, s^djtus ienuilcr cinereo-iomeniosis ; fruc-
iibus tei-nis aid quinis, breviter peduncidatis.

This tree rises from ten to twent}' feet : it grows in the moun-
tains near Moran in Mexico, and fructifies in May.

QuERCUS LAURIN'A. Q. ramulis glabris,foliis oblongis, acuminatis, basi sjtbroiundatis;
apicem versvs subdentaiis, coriaceis, glabris, nitidis; fniciibus solitariis atit ternis, ses-
silibus ; cupulis ci/atJiifonnibus.

This is a large tree, which resembles the Laurel, and attains
the heigiit of forty feet : it is found in the temperate parts of
New Spain, in the environs of Pachuca, Totonilco, and Grande :
it flowers in May.

QuERcns REPANDA. Q. fructicosa, prorvmbens ; rarmdis fnh'isqne snbtus nlbidn-tomeii-
losis, subsessilibus, oblongis, obtiisiuscidis, basi iiio'quaUhus, sinuato-rcpandis coriaceis;
fruciibus sidjsolitariis, sessilibus.

This is a shrub about two feet in height : it grows in moist,
shady situations, between Eeal del Monte and Moran, and
flowers in May.

QfERCUS DEPRESSA. Q. fruc/icosaprocvmbcns; armuh's piibescrnfihjis : filiisscmpcr-
rircntibus, oblongis, acuiis, basi rotnndalis, argute el remote dentaiis, rigidus, glabris,
nitidis ; fructibus geminis aid ternis, breviter, pedunculaiis.

This species is an evergreen shrub, numerousl}' ramified, and
only one or two feet in height : it abounds in the same situa-
tions with the [)rcceding, and flowers in May and June.

ADDITIONS TO THE OAKS. 89

QuERCUS CHRVSOPHTLLA. Q. ramuUs sulcaiis, puiescentibus ; foliis ohlongis, hasi
rotundatis, apicem versus cuspidato-dentatis, memhranaceis, supra nitidis, suhtus tenuis-
siine aureo-tomentosis ; fruclibus ternis aut quinis, pedunculatis.

This tree, which has a thin foliage, rises to the height of
thirty or forty feet, aud is from eighteen to twenty-four inches
in diameter : it grows in the temperate and stony parts of New
Spain between Moran, Pachuca, and Kegla, and flowers in May.

QuERcns JALAPENSIS. Q. ramis tuhercidaUs ; foliis lonr/e petiolatis, ovato-ohlongis,
acuminatis, remote cuspidato-dentatis, subcoriaceis, glabris ; fructibus solitariis aut gemi-
nis, breviter pedunculatis ; cupulis cyathiformibus.

This is a very lofty tree, about two feet in diameter : it is
very common in the forests near Jalapa, on the eastern side
of the mountains : it fructifies in January.

QuERCUS ACUTiFOLiA. Q. foUis ovato-lanceolatis, acuminatis, incequaliter stibcordatis,
siibtics pulvendento-tomentosis, ferrugineis, simiato-deniatis ; dentibus elongatis, cuspi-
dal is ; fructibus geminis aut quaternis, brevissime pedunculatis.

A very lofty tree, about two feet in diameter, which grows
on the west side of the mountains between Venta de Acaguisolta
and La Majonera : it fructifies in May.

QuERCUS STiPULARis. Q. ratmdis ferrugineo-tomentosis ; foliis obovato-oblongis, sub-
cordatis, argute et grosse dentatis ; crasse coriaceis, supra nitidis, subtus flavido-tomen-
tosis ; stipulis persistentibus ; fructibus solitariis, aut geminis, sessilibus.

This tree rises to the height of about fifty feet, and has a
thick foliage : it is found on the mountains of Mexico near
Actopan, and fructifies in May.

QuERcns STDEROSTLA. Q. ramidis pidiescentibus ; foliis obovato-oblongis, basi rotun-
datis, apicem versus argute serratis, cordatis, remote et obtuse dentatis, membranaceis,
subtus tomcniosis; fructibus longe pedunculatis, subspicatis ; cupulis heinisphcericis.

A very lofty tree, from one to two feet in diameter : it grows
in the temperate regions of New Spain near Villalpando and
Santa Rosa, and fructifies in September.

QuEECUS PULCHELLA. Q. ramis tuberculatis ; foliis obovato-oblongis, stibcordafis,
argute dentatis, coriaceis, supra nitidis, subtus tenuissime incano-tomentosis ; fructibus
geminis, breviter pedunculatis ; cupidis depresso-sphmricis.

This tree is from fifteen to twenty feet in height, and grows

I.— 6*

90 ADDITIONS TO THE OAKS.

in the mountainous regions of New Spain between Guanajuato
and Santa Eosa : it fructifies in September.

QtTXRCUS RETICDLATA. Q. ramulis suh2ynbesce)ilibiis ; foliis subsessilibus, obovaiis,
cordalis, remote deiilatis, coriaceis, rugosis, sublun tenuUsime iomenlosis ; fruetibus
(jeiaiais, l<m<jc pedunculalis ; ciipidis cyulhiformibus.

A tall tree, which grows in the mountainous parts of New
Spain between Santa Rosa and Guanajuato, and fructifies in

September.

QtjERcns CRASSIFOLIA. Q. raniulis sulcafis, foliisque subtus, favesceidi-fomeniosis,
breviter pciiolaiis, obovaiis cordalis, remote dentalia, crasse coriaceis ; fruetibus suhieriiis,
pedunculalis ; cupxdis suhspluirieis.

This tree is from thirty to forty feet high, and has a
very thick foliage : it is found in the stony and mountain-
ous regions of New Spain near Chilpanciugo, and fructifies
in April.

QuERCDS SPICATA. Q. romidi^ iomeniosi-s; foUis eUipiici-s, sinuato-deiitatis, coriaceis,
supra nitidis, siibtus tenuissime cancscenti-tomentosis ; fruetibus subgemiuis, h-ccissime
pedunculalis; cupulis cyathiformibus.

This species is from thirty to forty feet in height, and is
found in shady situations near El Oyamel, El Jacal, and Ccrro
de las Nabajas : it fructifies in May.

QuERCus PANDURATA. Q. ramidis Icevibus, hirtis, foliis ohovato-oblongis, subpandu-
ratis, subcordalis, sinuaio-dentatis, coriaceis, siibtus pxtbesceidibus; fruetibus subquinis,
pedunculalis ; eiqndis cyathiformibus.

This species is about fifteen feet high : it is found on the
sides of the mountains in the kingdom of Mechoacan, between
Ario and Patzcuaro : it fructifies in September.

QuERCUS AitBiGTJA. Q. ramuHs glabris, oborato-oblongis, obtusis, basi rotundatis,
subrepandis, membranaceis, subtus tenuissime pubeseentibus ; fruetibus quinis aid scp-
tenis pedunculalis ; pedunrulis r/eminis, clongatis.

This tree is about twenty feet high, and is found in the tem-
perate regions of Mexico near Moran, Cerro Ventoso, and Omil-
ton : it flowers in May.

ADDITIONS TO THE OAKS. 91

QuERCUS GLADCESCEN'S. Q. mmnJis anr/u7ati,<! ; foliis hrevissime peiiolal'is, ohovnlo-
oblonyis, obtusiuscuUs, basi cuneatis, denfalo-siimatU, membranaceis, glaiicescentibus ;
fructibus quinis aut septenis, peduiiculaiis.

A tall tree, very common in the warm parts ot" INew Spain
between La Venta de la Majorena and Acaguisotla : it blooms
in April.

QcERCUs oiiTUSATA. Q. ramidis fuheradafis, ienuiier pvbescenidjvs, foliis oblonijis,
obiusu basiinfeqvalibus, repandis, coriaceis, subtiis pulccrulcHio-pubcscentibus ; fruciibns
subquinis, peduiicidalis ; cupulis campanidata-globosis.

This species is very tall, with a remarkal^ly straight trunk :
it is found in the elevated and dry parts of New Spain near
Ario, and flowers in September.

WALNUTS.

Of the various trees ■which compose the vast forests of North
America east of the Mississippi, the Wahiut ranks, after the
Oak, among the genera the species of which are most multi-
plied. In this particular the soil of the United States is more
favored than that of Europe, in no part of which is any species
of this tree indigenous. I have distinguished in the United
States ten species of Walnut, and others mil proljably be dis-
covered in Louisiana. Travellers who visit these regions to
explore their natural history should direct their attention to
this class of vegetables, so interesting from the useful aj^plica-
tions of their Avood in the arts. Thex'e is room to liope, also,
tliat species may be discovered, susceptible, like the Pecannut
Hickory, of rapid improvement by the aid of grafting and
attentive cultivation. Some weight is given this considera-
tion bj' an observation which I have often heard repeated by
my father, that the i'ruit of the Common European Walnut, in
its natural state, is harder than that of the American species
just mentioned, and inferior to it in size and quality. To the
members of agricultural societies in the United States it belongs
to extend their observations and experiments on this sulyect,
after the example of our ancestors, to whom we are indebted
for a rich variety of fruits, equally salutary and beautiful.

The Walnuts of North America appear to present characters
so distinct as to require their division into two sections.
These characters consist principally in the form of the barren
aments or catkins, and in the greater or less rapidity of
vegetation in the trees. The first section is composed of Wal-

WALNUT S. 93

nuts with single amonts, (PI. 29 and 30,) and includes two spe-
cies,— the Black Walnut and the Butternut ; to which is added
the European Walnut. The second section consists of such as
have compound aments, (PI. 36,) and comprises eight species, —
the Pecannut Hickory, Bitternut Hickory, Water Bitternut
Hickory, Mockernut Hickory, Shellbark Hickory, Thick Shell-'
bark Hickory, Pignut Hickorj-, and Nutmeg Hickory. The
first three species of the second section bear some relation to
those of the first in their buds, which are not covered with
scales. For this reason I have placed them immediately next,
beginning with the Pecannut Hickorj', which, by its numerous
leaflets, most nearly resembles the Black Walnut and the But-
ternut, whose buds are also uncovered.

Throughout the United States the common name of Hickory
is given to the species of the second section. This universal
appellation is due to certain properties of their wood, which,
however modified, are possessed by them all in a greater degree
than by any other tree of Europe or America. These sj^ecies
exhibit also a striking analogy in their form and in their leaves,
though they differ in the number and size of their leaflets. To
these sources of confusion must be added another in the fruit,
which is often so various in its appearance that it is easy to
mistake the species to which it belongs. It is not, then, on the
most remarkable differences alone that our distinctions must be
founded; recourse must also be had to an examination of the
shoots of the preceding year, of the buds, and of the aments.
It was only by constant observation in the forests of the country,
pursued through the course of a summer, that I became able
readily to distinguish between mere varieties and species. M.
Delille, of the Institute of Egypt, who was at that time in the
United States, took an active part in my researches, and resorted
with me daily to the woods. Our investigations, I flatter my-
self, have had the result which may always be hoped for from
unwearied perseverance.

94 W A L X U T S.

From tlie considerations alleged, and principally from the
striking resemblance of their -n-ood, I have thonght proper, in
describing the species of Hickory, to speak but summarily of
their respective properties, and to treat of this part of the sub-
ject colk'ctivel}- and comparatively more at large, in a separate
article which will complete their history.

[For additional information on the Walnuts, see Nuttall's
Su})plement, vol. i. p. 39.

The genus Carya has been separated from Juglans by Nuttall
cliiefl}- on account of a technical distinction in the fruit.

Pj-opagation, c6c. The species is propagated by the nut ;
which, when the tree is to be grown chiefly for its timber, is best
sown where it is finallj' to remain, on account of the taproot,
which will thus have its full influence on the vigor and prosperity
of the tree. In soils on moist or otherwise unfavoralile sul>-
soils, if so-\\Ti where it is not finally to remain, a tile, slate, or
flat stone should be placed under the nut at the depth of three
or four inches, to give the taproot a horizontal direction; or, if
this precaution is neglected, the taproot may be cut through
■with a spade six or eight inches below the nut. In a dry or
rocky subsoil, or among rocks, no precaution of this kind is
necessary. The varieties may be propagated hy budding, graft-
ing, in-arching, or lajering, and, possibly, by cuttings of the
root.

The nuts may be sown as soon as gathered if there is no
danger from vermin ; but, if there is, defer sowing till February.
The most convenient mode is to deposit the seed in drills two
feet apart from each other, placing the seeds at from three to
six inches apart in the drills. If germinated in a heap before
sowing, the points of the taproot may be pinched off Ix'fore
planting. Whether sown in drills or broadcast, almost the
only attention required in their culture Avhile in the nursery is
to shorten once a year the tap or main root, in order to induce

WALNUTS. 95

them to throw out fibres, for the purpose of f\xcilitating tlieir
transplantation, which, if performed in the autumn, should be
followed in the spring, before the sap begins to rise, by cutting
the head of the tree entirely off, leaving only a main stem ter-
minating in the stumps of the principal branches. The wounds
of these stumps arc carefully covered with plaster composed of
loam and cowdung, or grafting-clay, secured from the weather
by straw and cords. Trees thus treated push out shoots of
great vigor the first year, and, these being thinned out or rubbed
off, the remainder soon form a head.

Soil and situation. The "Walnuts attain the largest size in a
deep loamy soil, dry rather than moist; but the fruit has the
best flavcr, and produces most oil, when the tree is grown in
calcareous soils or among calcareous rocks : in a wet^bottomed
soil it will not thrive. The Walnut is not a social tree, and
neither produces good timber nor fruit when planted in masses.
The Walnut is generally considered injurious by its shade both
to man and plants.

Hickories planted in masses should be thinned when the
plants have attained the height of from five to eight feet, the
larger trees being left for timber, for ornament, or for fruit.
Managed in this way, and gradually exposed to the action of
the sun and air, they will have their peculiar beauties developed
in the fullest manner. The wood which has grown most rapidly
is the most valuable, having least of the heart-wood. The
ashes of the Hickories abound in alkali, and are considered
better for the purpose of making soap than any other of the
native woods, being next to those of the Apjile-tree. The Shell-
bark grows best on the border of cultivated land, or on the edge
of a forest. Some of our gardeners have paid attention to pro-
curing the best nuts for cultivation, and the " true thin-shelled"
may now be purchased from the nurseries ; the nuts, however,
will differ in different soils and situations, and even on indi-
vidual trees gi'owing in immediate proximity.]

METHODICAL DISPOSITION

OF THE

WALNUTS

OP

NORTH AMERICA.

Alonecia pohjandria. LiNN. Terehinthacece. Juss.

First Section.
Simple mncnts. {PI. 29 ami 30.)

VT.GETATION EAPID.

1. Common European Walnut .... Juglam regia.

2. Black Walnut Juglans nigra.

3. Butternut Juglans cathartica.

Second Section.
HICKORIES.

Compound aments, each peduncle bearing three. {PL 36, fg. 3.)
VEGETATIOX SLO'O^.

4. Pecannut Hickory . . Juglans {Cdryei) dlivcrformis.

5. Bitternut Hickory . . Juglans [Cdryd) amara.

6. Water Bitternut Hickory Jvglans {Ccirya) aquatica.

7. Mockernut Hickory . Juglans { Cdrya) tomentosa.

8. Slielll;)ark Hickory . . Juglans {Cdrya) squamosa.

9. Thick Shellbark Ilickorj^ Juglans {Cdrya) ladneosa.

10. Pignut Hickory . . . Juglans {Cdrya) porcina.

11. Nutmeg Hickory . . Juglans {Cdrya) myrisfirjcvformis.

9G

FI..0

("oi union I', nropeaii \\ aliiiil

COMMON EUROPEAN AYALNUT.

JuGLANS REGiA. J. fulioUs suhscptcim, ovallhus, glabris, subscrralits, nuh-
ocqualibus : fructibus subovalibiis.

The "Walnut which for several centuries has been cultivated
in Europe is a native of Asia. According to an ancient but
uncertain tradition, its fruit was brought from Persia with the
Peach and the Apricot. My father, who, in the years 1782, '83,
and '84, visited that part of the East to examine its natural
productions, first ascertained with exactness the origin of this
tree : he found it, in the natural state, in the province of Ghilan,
which lies on the Caspian Sea, between the 35th and 40th
degrees of latitude.

The period of its introduction into Europe — a point on which
ancient authors leave us in obscurity — is proved to be remote
by several rites in use among the Romans ; such, for instance,
as the distribution of nuts in the Cerealia. In the village
festival of the Rosiere, instituted by St. Medard, at Salencj^,
Department of the Oise, twelve hundred years ago, it is directed
that an offering composed of nuts and other fruits of the country
shall be presented to the young maid who is crowned ; which
proves the tree to have been already naturalized in that part of
France.

The Walnut is common throughout the centre of Europe;
but it flourishes most in the western and southern departments
of France, in Spain and in Italy, which approach nearest to the
latitude in which it grows naturally. In France it is only in
the Avest and south, where the vegetation of the Walnut is per-
fectly secure from frost, that its wood is of a superior quality,
and that its fruit is regularly yielded in sufficient abundance
to become an article of commerce.

The European Walnut is one of the tallest and most beauti-
VoL. I.— 7 97

98 COMMON EUROPEAN WALNUT.

fill among fruit-trees, and one of the most remarkable for the
amjjlitude of its summit and the thickness of its shade. On
tlie trunk of old trees, which frequently are several feet in dia-
meter, the bark is thick and deeply furrowed; on the upper
branches it is gray and smooth, a good deal resembling that of
the Butternut. The leaves are borne by long petioles, and are
composed of two, three, and sometimes four pair of leaflets,
surmounted by an odd one. The leaflets are oval and smooth;
when bruised, they exhale a strong aromatic odor. In the ex-
treme heat of summer, the emanations from the Walnut are so
powerful as to produce unpleasant effects upon some persons if
they slumber in its shade.

The flowers of the Common European Walnut, like those of
the Black Walnut and Butternut, appear before the unfolding
of the leaves; the barren ones in single, pendulous, imbricated
aments, the fertile ones on separate branches, at the end of the
young shoots, and commonly in pairs. The fruit is green and
oval, and in the natural state contains a small hard nut. In
the most esteemed cultivated species, the fruit is oval and
strongly odoriferous, about an inch and two-thirds long and
from an inch and a quarter to an inch and a half in diameter.
The nut occupies two-thirds of its volume.

Toward autumn the husk softens, and, decaying from about
the nut, allows it to fall. The shell is slightly channelled, and
so thin as to be easily crushed hy the fingers. The kernel is
of a very agreeable taste : it is large, covered with a fine
pellicle, and separated by a thin partition, which ma}' readily
be detached both from the shell and from the kernel.

The nuts are better-tasted and easier of digestion soon after
their maturity than later in the season, wheir the oily principle
becomes perfectl}^ formed; they are then oppressive, if immo-
derately eaten.

A dessert of an excellent relish is made b}' extracting the
kernels a fortnight before they are ripe, and seasoning them

COMMON EUROPEAN WALNUT. 99

with tho juice of green grapes and salt. The}' should be thrown
into water as soon as they are taken from the shell, and allowed
to remain till the moment when they are seasoned to be set
upon the table. They are sold in Paris by the name of Ckr-
neaux; and a greater quantity of walnuts is consumed in this
way by people in easy circumstances than after the}^ are per-
fectly ripe : the use of them is then almost exclusively confined
to the lower classes.

The Common Walnut is more multiplied in tho departments
of France which lie between the 45th and the 48th degrees of
latitude than in any other part of Europe. In these depart-
ments it is planted in the midst of cultivated fields, like the
Ajiple-tree for cider in those of the north and the centre : the
fruit, the oil, and the wood, may be considered as forming one
of their principal branches of commerce.

In extracting the oil of Walnuts, certain delicate attentions
are necessary to insure its fineness. When the fruit is gathered
and the nuts are separated from the husks, they should be kept
dry and occasionally moved till they are used. The proper time
for the operation is at the close of winter, as in this interval
the change by which the mucilage of the fruit is converted into
oil has become completely effected, and by longer delay the
kernel grows rancid and the oil is of a vitiated quality. The
nut is cracked by striking it on the end with a small mallet, and
pains are taken not to bruise the kernel. The slight ligneous
partition is detached, and such kernels as are partially spoiled
are selected and thrown aside. The sound kernels, thus cleared
from every particle of the shell, should be sent immediately to
the mill, as they soon become rancid by exposure to the air.
They are crushed by a vertical stone, which turns in a circular
trough, and is moved by a horse or by a current of water. The
paste is next enclosed in bags of strong linen and submitted to
the press. The oil which flows under this first pressure without
the application of heat is of the best quality. It is \ery clear,

100 COMMON EUROPEAN ^V A L N U T.

and is proper for food ; but it sensibly retains the taste of the
nut, which in general is not agreeable to persons unaccustomed
to it, so that the consumption is limited to the departments
where it is made. To be kept sweet for the table, it should be
drawn off several times during the first months, carefully
corked, and stored in the cellar, as it is more easily afiected
than any other oil by the action of air and heat.

After the first expression, the paste is emptied from the sacks,
moistened with warm water, and moderately heated in coppers.
It is then replaced in the sacks and returned to the press. The
oil of the second discharge is highly colored, and very speedily
becomes rancid; it is thei'efore emploj'ed only in the prepara-
tion of colors. The cakes which remain after the expression is
finished are used for fattening fowls.

Although nut-oil, as an article of diet, is in general use in tlie
departments where the tree abounds, it serves a still more im-
portant purpose in the preparation of fine colors. It is preferred
on account of the complete and rapid manner in which it dries,
and of the facility of obtaining it perfectly limpid, which is done
by diffusing it upon water in large shallow vases.

In copper-plate printing, walnut-oil is considered, in Paris,
indispensably necessary for a fine imj^ression in black or in
colors. But there are peculiar modes of preparing it for the
several colors with which it is to be mixed. Thus, for wliite,
blue, light green, and the intermediate shades, it is reduced by
boiling to two-thirds of its bulk ; but, for dark green and black,
to one-fifth, which leaves it a thick, semifluid substance. To
facilitate the process, one-tenth part of linseed-oil is added to it;
it is then placed, in an iron or copper vessel, over an active,
clear fire. When it begins to boil rapidlj-, the vessel is unco-
vered, and the oil takes fire by contact with the flame and burns
till it is reduced to the proper consistenc}- : sometimes it is not
allowed to kindle, l)ut. when the elndlition commences, crusts
of bread are thrown into it, which remain till the necessary

COMMON EUROPEAN WALNUT. 101

evaporation is effected, and are then taken out, charged with
mucilaginous particles. The principal advantage of this oil, in
the preparation of white lead for painting the interior of houses,
as well as of the colors employed in copper-plate printing, is the
longer and more perfect preservation of the tints. The backs of
prints done with it do not turn yellow like others.

A fine stomachic liquor is made with the fruit of the Walnut
gathered a month before its maturity. Twelve green nuts in
the husk are bruised and thrown into a pint of good brandy ;
after they have steeped three weeks, the brandy is filtered
through brown paper, and a quarter of a pound of loaf-sugar is
added. This cordial improves by age.

Dyers obtain, by boiling the husks when they begin to decay,
and the bark of the roots, a substantial dark brown with which
they dye woollens. Cabinetmakers also make use of it in
staining other pieces of wood in imitation of Walnut.

Among the American Walnuts which are found cast of the
Mississippi, the Black Walnut bears the greatest resemblance to
the European Walnut in its general appearance, in its flowers
and fruit, and in the qualities of its wood : in foliage they are
strikingly different. The wood of the European Walnut is
inferior in strength and weight, and, I believe, far more liable
to injury from worms.

Twent}- or thirty years ago, before Mahogany was imported
in such abundance into Europe, Walnut wood was emplo3-ed
almost exclusively in cabinet-making. In the country it is still
in general use, and the furniture made of it is far from being
inelegant, especially pieces obtained from such old trees as bear
small and thick-shelled nuts. It is preferred for the stocks of
muskets; and in Paris and Brussels no other wood is used for
the panels of carriages. The old trees furnish excellent screws
for large presses. Great quantities of wooden shoes are manu-
factured of Walnut, which are more highly esteemed than others.
The wood of the European Walnut is largely exported from

102 COMMON EUROPEAN WALNUT.

the south of France to the north and to IloUand and Germany* :
formerly it was canied to Enghxnd.

Like other fruit-trees, whose perfection is among the "noblest
conquests of industrious man," the Walnut has been greatly
improved by long and careful cultivation. There are seven or
eight cultivated varieties, whose superiority is principally ap-
parent in the augmented size of the fruit and in the diminished
thickness of the shell. Of these the most esteemed, after that
which I have described, are the St. Jean and the Jaiuje Wal-
nuts. The St. John Walnut is a variety obtained within a
few 3'ears. It j'ields fruit as large and as abundant as the com-
mon Walnut, and for that part of Europe Avhich lies beyond the
4-3th degree of latitude it possesses an advantage in opening its
vegetation three weeks later and in being thus secure from the
injuries of frost. The Jauge Walnut is chiefly remarkable for
the size of its fruit, which is twice as large as the variety repre-
sented in the plate. It is unproductive, and the kernel does
not fill the shell. The Jauge nut is made into cases by jewellers,
and furnished with trinkets, for the amusement of children.

The wood of the Black Walnut is already superior to that of
the European Walnut; and it will accpiire a still finer grain
Avlien it is raised on lands that have been long under cultiva-
tion. It is solely for the excellency of its fruit and the decided
superiorit}^ of its oil in the preparation of colors, that the Euro-
pean Walnut should be warmly recommended to the attention
of Americans. It would thrive better than elsewhei-e in places
Avhere the Black Walnut naturally abounds.

In some parts of Pennsylvania and Maryland the Black Wal-
nuts have been preserved in clearing the lands. Great advan-
tage would be found in grafting them with the European Wal-
nut. The limbs should be cut fifteen inches from the trunk,
and from the stumps will spring vigorous shoots, which, the
second year, may be grafted l)y inoculation. Fifty or sixty buds
should be set \\\nn\ eatdi tree, as is practised near Lyons, where

COMMON EUROPEAN WALNUT. 103

it is found that, by inserting the Wahiut of St. John on the com-
mon Wahiut, the fruit is rendered finer and the crop more cer-
tain. Black WaUnits thus grafted begin to bear the fifth year.
On estates where no Black Walnut exist, the deficiency may be
supplied by planting the nuts and grafting the young stocks
when they come to the height of eight or ten feet.

It should be observed, that in the Walnut, more than any
other tree, it is necessary, on account of the loose texture of the
wood and the large volume of the pith, to protect the amputated
limbs from the weather. A covering of clay should be so nicely
adapted to the exposed surface as entirely to exclude the rain;
otherwise, decay will commence and spi-ead itself into the body
of the tree.

In those parts of France, Belgium, and Germany, where the
Walnut is not cultivated for commei'ce, the trees have generally
sprung from the seed, which is the cause of the inferiority of
their fruit. For it is observed that, with a few accidental ex-
ceptions, the finest fruits and flowers degenerate in reproduction.
This inconvenience would be experienced in the United States;
and, as there do not perhaps exist in that country, south of the
Hudson River, ten European Walnut-trees,* I should recommend
the importation from Bordeaux of young grafted trees, which
will soon furnish the means to such proprietors as wish to enrich
their estates with this useful and magnificent tree.

PLATE XXIX.

Fig. 1. A leaf of half the natural size. Fig. 2. Barren flowers. Fig. 3.
Fertile flowers. Fig. 4. A nut in its husk of the natural size. Fig. [>.
A nut loithout its husk. Fig. 6. A nut deprived of half the shell, to show
the kernel.

* [Since this was written, the European Walnut has been extensively introduced
in America, but as far north as Philadelphia it does not produce fruit abundantly
'except in sheltered situations or when surrounded by hard surface-ground.]

BLACK WALNUT.

JriiiLANS NIGRA. J. foUoUs quiiulcnis, subcordalis, SKpernt miguslalis,
serratis; fruda globoso, inmclato, scahrmsculo ; nuce corrugatd.

This tree is known in all parts of the United States where it
gi-ows, and to the French of Upper and Lower Louisiana, bj' no
other name than Black Walnut. East of the Alleghany Moun-
tains, the most northern point at which it appears is al^out
Goshen in the State of New Jersey, in the latitude of 40° 50'.===
West of the mountains it exists abundantly two degrees farther
north, in tliat portion of Genesee which is comprised between
the 77th and 79th degrees of longitude. This observation, as I
shall have occasion to remark, is applicable to several other
vegetables the northern limit of whose appearance varies with
the climate; and this becomes milder in advancing toward the
west. The Black Walnut is multiplied in the forests about
Philadelphia; and, with the exception of the lower parts of the
Southern States, where the soil is too sandy, or too wet, as in
the swamps, it is met with to the banks of the Mississippi,
throughout an extent of two thousand miles. East of the Alle-
ghany Mountains in Virginia, and in the upper part of the
Carolinas and of Georgia, it is chiefly confined to the valleys
^\■here the soil is deep and fertile, and which are watered by
creeks and rivers: in the western country, in Genesee, and in
the States of Ohio and Kentucky, where the soil in general is
very rich, it grows in the forests, with the Coffee-tree, Honey
Locust, Red Mulberry, Locust Shellbark Hickory, Black Sugar
Maple, Hack Berry, and Red Elm: — all which trees prove the
goodness of the soil in which they are found.

It is in these countries that the Black Walnut displays its

* [Tt i.s fouud in Massachusetts. Emerson.]
104

r .1 /,\:/,.„.>.- ./.■

Black Walnut

BLACK WALNUT. 105

full proportions. On the banks of the Ohio, and on the islands
of that beautiful river, I have often seen trees of three or four
feet in diameter and sixty or seventy feet in height. It is not
rare to find them of the thickness of six or seven feet. Its
powerful vegetation clearly points out this as one of the largest
trees of America. When it stands insulated, its branches, ex-
tending themselves horizontally to a great distance, spread into
a spacious head, which gives it a very majestic appearance.

The leaves of the Black Walnut when bruised emit a strong
aromatic odor. They are about eighteen inches in length,
pinnate, and composed in general of six, seven, or eight pair of
leaflets surmounted by an odd one. The leaflets are opposite
and fixed on short petioles; they are acuminate, serrate, and
somewhat downy. The barren flowers are disposed in pendulous
and cylindrical aments, of which the peduncles are simple, un-
like those of the Hickories, (PI. 30, fig. 1.) The fruit is round,
odoriferous, of rather an uneven surface, and always appears at
the extremity of the branches : on young and vigorous trees it
is sometimes seven or eight inches in circumference. The husk
is thick, and is not, as in the Hickories, divided into sections,
but when lipe it softens and graduall}' decays. The nut is hard,
somewhat compressed at the sides, and sulcated. The kernel,
which is divided by firm ligneous partitions, is of a sweet and
agreeable taste, though inferior to that of the European Walnut.
These nuts are sold in the markets of New York, Philadelphia,
and Baltimore, and served upon the tables. The size of the
fruit varies considerably, and depends upon the vigor of the tree
and upon the nature of the soil and of the climate. On the
banks of the Ohio, and in Kentucky, the fruit with the husk is
seven or eight inches in compass, with the nut proportionally
large: in Genesee, on the contrary, where the cold is intense,
and in fields exhausted by cultivation, where these trees have
been preserved since the first clearing of the land, it is not of
more than half this volume. Some variations are observed in

10(3 BLACK WALNUT.

the form of the fruit and in the moukling of the shell; but
these I consider as merely accidental differences. Indeed, there
is no genus of trees in America in which the fruit of a given
species exhibits such various forms as in the AValnut ; and
doubtless this circumstance has misled observers, who, being
acquainted only with the small number of trees existing in
European gardens, have described them as distinct species.

The bark of the Black Walnut is thick, blackish, and, on old
trees, deepl}' furrowed. When the timber is freshly cut, the sap
is white and the heart of a violet-color, which after a short ex-
posure to the air assumes an intenser shade and becomes nearly
black; hence probably is derived the name of Black Walnut.
There are several qualities for which its wood is principally
esteemed. It remains sound during a long time, even when ex-
posed to the influences of heat and moisture : but this observa-
tion is applicable only to the heart; the sap speedily decays.
It is very strong and very tenacious; when thoroughly seasoned,
it is not liable to warp and split; and its grain is sufficiently
fine and compact to admit of a beautiful polish. It possesses,
in addition to these advantages, that of being secure from
Avorms. On account of these excellencies, it is preferred and
successfully employed in manj' kinds of work. East of the
Alleghanies, its timber is not extensively used in building
houses; but in some parts of Kentucky and Ohio it is split into
shingles eighteen inches long and from four to six inches wide,
which serve to cover them : sometimes also this timber enters
into the composition of the frame. But it is chiefly in cabinet-
making that the Black Walnut is emploA'ed wherever it abounds.
By selecting pieces from the upper part of the trunk, imme-
diatel}- below the first ramification, furniture is sometimes made
which from the accidental curlings of the grain is highlj- beau-
tiful; but, as its color soon changes to a dusky hue, the Wild
Cherry wood is frequently preferred for this use. The Black
Walnut is also employed for musket-stocks; it is stronger and

B L A C K W A L N U T. 107

tougher than the Picd-flowering Maple, which, from its superior
lightness and elegance, is chosen for fowling-pieces. In Virginia
posts are very commonly made of Black Walnut; and, as it
lasts undecayed in the ground from twenty to twenty-five years,
it appears everj'way fit for this purpose. I have been assured
that it makes excellent naves for wheels, which further proves
its strength and durability. At Philadelphia coffins are very
frequently made of it.

The timber of this tree is also excellently adapted to certain
uses in naval architecture. It should never be wrought till it
is perfectly seasoned, after which it is asserted to be more
durable, though more brittle, than the White Oak. Breckel, in
his "History of North Carolina," affirms that it is not liable,
like the Oak, to be attacked by sea-worms in warm latitudes.
This advantage, if it is real, is highly important, and deserves
to be ascertained by further observation. In the marine lumljer-
yards of Philadelphia I have often seen it used for knees and
floor-timber; but in the vessels built at Wheeling and Marietta,
towns on the Ohio, it constitutes a principal part of the frame.
On the river Wabash canoes are made of it which are greatly
esteemed for strength and durability. Some of them, fashioned
from the trunk of a single tree, are more than forty feet long
and two or three feet wide.

The Black Walnut is exported in small quantities to England
in planks of two inches in thickness, which are sold at Phihi-
delphia at four cents a foot.*

The husk of the fruit yields a color similar to that which is

* [The demand for Walnut wood in the Atlantic cities, and the want of atten-
tion to its cultivation, have since made it necessary for the cahinet-makers, &c. to
import from the West the greater portion of their supplies. This resource must
fail in time, and the wood may not improbably become nearly as costly as
Mahogany, which it resembles in many of its properties.]

1(18 B L A C K W A L N U T.

obtained from the European "Walnut. It is used in the country
lor dyeing woollen stufis.

This tree has long since been introduced, in England and
France, into the gardens of the lovers of foreign culture. It
succeeds perfectly, and yields fruit abundantly. Though differ-
ing widely from the European species, it bears a nearer re-
semblance to it than any other American Walnut. B}- com-
paring the two species as to their utility in the arts and in com-
merce, it will appear that the wood of the Black Walnut is
more compact, heavier, and much stronger; that it is susceptible
of a finer polish, and that it is not injured by worms, — qualities
which, as has been seen, render it fit not only for the same uses
with ours, but also for the larger works of architecture. These
considerations sufficiently evince that it is a valuable tree, and
that it is with great reason that many proprietors in America
have spared it in clearing their new lauds. On highroads, I
am of opinion that it might be chosen to succeed the Elm;
for experience has proved that, to insure success in the continued
cultivation of trees or herbaceous plants on the same soil, the
practice must be varied with species of different genera.

Nuts of the European Walnut and of the Black Walnut have
been planted at the same time in the same soil: those of the
Black Walnut are observed to shoot more vigorously, and to gro\v
in a given time to a greater height. By grafting the European
upon the American species at the height of eight or ten feet,
their advantages, with respect to the quality both of wood and
of fruit, might be united.

PLATE XXX.

A leaf of half Us natural size. Fa/. 1. .1 nni wllh Us laisk. Fa/. 2. A nut
icilhoid its lias/;. Fl<j. 3. .4 barren amcnt.

/'/.,;/.

;'J/;,-Jont.: A/^

Fxiilei- Nut .

f ;,',//, 7//.^- rii//iiii/irit .

4

BUTTERNUT

JtJGLANS CATHARTICA. J. foUoVis suhquiiidenis, lanceolaiis, hasi rotundato-
obiusis subtus iomeniosis, leviter serratis; fructu oblongo, ovato, apice
mammoso, viscido, longh pcdunculato, mice oblongd, acummaid, insignlter
insculpte-scabrosd.

This species of Walnut is known in North America under
difTerent denominations. In Massachusetts, New Hampshire,
and Vermont, it bears the name of Oihiut: in Pennsylvania
and Maryland, and on the banks of the Ohio, it is generally
known by that of White Walnut; in Connecticut, New York,
New Jersey, Virginia, and in the mountainous districts of the
upper parts of the Carolinas, it is called Butternut. The last
of these names I have retained, because it is not wholly un-
known in those parts of the United States where the others are
in general use, and because the wood is employed in the neigh-
borhood of New York for a greater variety of uses than else-
where. I think also that the Latin specific name Cathartica,
which was long since given it by Doctor Cutler of Massachusetts,
should be definitively substituted for that of Cinerea, by which
it has hitherto been distinguished among botanists. This last
appellation, derived from the color of the secondary branches,
whose bark is smooth and grayish, suggests only an unim-
portant characteristic, while the first expresses one of the most
interesting properties of the tree.

The Butternut is found in Upper and Lower Canada, in the

district of Maine, on the shores of Lake Erie, in the States of

Kentucky and Tennessee, and on the banks of the Missouri ;

but I have never met with it in the lower part of the Carolinas,

of Georgia, and of East Florida, where the nature of the soil

and the intemperate heat of the summer are unfavorable to its

vegetation. In cold regions, on the contrary, its growth is luxu-

109

110 BUTTERNUT.

riant; iVu' in tlie State of Vermont," where the winter is so rigor-
ous that sledges are used during four months in the year, this tree
attains a circumference of eight or ten feet. I have nowhere
seen it more abundant than in the bottoms which border the
Ohio between "Wheeling and ^Marietta; but the thickness of
these forests, which are hardly penetrated b}' the sun, appears
to prevent its utmost expansion. I have seen hei'e no trees as
large as some in New Jersej-, on the steep and elevated banks
of the Hudson, nearly opposite to the cit^^ of New York. The
Avoods in this place are thin, and the soil cold, unproductive,
and interspersed with large rocks, in the interstices of which the
biggest Butternuts have their root. I have measured some of
them, which, at five feet from the ground, were ten or twelve
feet in circumference, and which Avere fifty feet in height, with
roots extending even with the surfiice of the ground, in a ser-
pentine direction and with little variation in size, to the distance
of forty feet. The trunk ramifies at a small height, and the
branches, seeking a direction more horizontal than those of
other trees, and spreading widely, form a large and tufted head,
which gives the tree a remarkable appearance.

The buds of the Butternut, like those of the Black Walnut,
are uncovered. In the spring its vegetation is forward, and its
leaves unfold a fortnight earlier than those of the Hickories.
Each leaf is composed of seven or eight pair of sessile leaflets,
and terminated by a petiolated odd one. The leaflets are from
two to three inches in length, lanceolate, serrate, and slightl}-
downy. The barren flowers stand on large cylindrical aments,
which are single, four or five inches long, and attached to the
shoots of the preceding year; the fertile flowers, on the contrary,
come out on the shoots of the same spring, and are situated at
their extremity. The ovarium is crowned by two rose-colored
stigmata. The fruit is commonl}' single, and suspended by a

* [It uccurs ill all the Xcw Kii^lauJ folates. Emkilson.]

BUTTERNUT. Ill

thin, pliable peduncle, about three inches in length; its form
is oblong-oval, without any appearance of seam. It is often
two and a half inches in length and five inches in circum-
ference, and is covered with a viscid adhesive substance, com-
posed of small transparent vesicles, which are easily discerned
with the aid of a glass. The nuts are hard, oblong, rounded at
the base, and terminated at the summit in an acute point; the
surface is very rough, and deejDly and irregularly furrowed.
They are ripe in the neighborhood of New York about the loth
of September, — a fortnight earlier than the other species of
Walnut. Some years they are so abundant that one person
may gather several bushels of them in a day. The kernel is
thick and oily, and soon becomes rancid; hence, doubtless, are
derived the names of Butternut and Oilnut. These nuts are
rarely seen in the markets of New Yoi'k and Philadelphia.
The Indians who inhabited these regions pounded and boiled
them, and, separating the oily substance which swam upon the
surface, mixed it with their food. When the fruit has attained
about half its growth, it is sometimes used for making pickles,
being first plunged into boiling water, and thoroughly wiped, to
clean it of its down, and afterward preserved in vinegar.

The Black Walnut and Butternut, when 3'oung, resemble each
other in their foliage and in the rapidity of their growth; but
Avhen arrived at maturity, their forms are so diflerent as to be
distinguishable at first sight. Remarkal>le peculiarities are also
found on examining their wood, especially when seasoned : the
Black Walnut is heav}^, strong, and of a dark brown color, while
the Butternut is light, of little strength, and of a reddish hue;
but they possess in common the great advantage of lasting long
and of being secure from the annoyance of worms. From its
want of solidity, and from the dilhculty of procuring pieces of
considerable length, Butternut timber is never used in the cities
in the construction of houses, though it is sometimes employed
for this purpose in the countiy. In some districts of New

112 EFT T E R X U T.

Jersey it is often taken fur the sleepers which are placed imme-
diately on the ground, in the framing of houses and barns. As
it long I'esists the etiects of heat and moisture, it is esteemed for
the posts and rails of rural fence and for troughs for the use of
cattle. For corn-shovels and wooden dishes, it is preferred to
the Eed-tlowering Maple, because it is lighter and less liable to
split 3 consequently, articles made of it are sold at a higher
price. Near New York I have observed it to be made use of
for canoes formed of one or two logs, and for the futtocks de-
signed to give them solidity; but in boats of consideraljle size
some stronger wood is selected for this purpose. At Pittsburg,
on the Ohio, the Butternut is sometimes sawn into planks, for
the construction of small skiffs, which, on account of their light-
ness, are in request for descending the river. At Windsor, in
Vermont, it is used for the panels of coaches and chaises; the
workmen find it excellently adapted to this object, not only
from its lightness, but because it is not liable to split and
receives paint in a superior manner. Indeed, I have remarked
that its pores are more open than those of the Poplar and
Basswood.

The medicinal properties of Butternut bark have long since
been proved by several eminent physicians of the United States,
and, among other's, by Doctor Cutler.'-' An extract in water,
or even a decoction sweetened with honey, is acknowledged to
be one of the best cathartics afforded by the materia medica; its
purgative operation is always sure, and unattended, in the most
delicate constitutions, with pain or irritation. Experience has
shown that it produces the best effects in man}^ cases of d^^sen-
tery. It is commonly given in the form of pills, and, to adults,
in doses from half a scruple to a scruple. It is not, however, in
general use, except in the country, where many of the farmers'

* [Previousl}', by Dr. Rush, in the war of the Revolution : the officinal extract
is the only one now used by practitioners.]

BUTTERNUT. 113

wives provide a small store of it iu the spring for the wants of
their families and of their neighbors. They obtain it by boil-
ing the bark entire in water till the liquid is reduced by evapo-
ration to a thick, viscid substance, which is almost black.
This is a faulty process: the exterior bark, or the dead part
which covers the cellular iutcgument, should first be taken off;
for, by continued boiling, it becomes charged with four-fifths of
the liquid, already enriched with extractive matter. I have
also seen this bark successfully employed as a i-evulsive in
inflammatory ophthalmias and in the toothache : a piece of it
soaked in warm water is applied in these cases to the back of
the neck. In the country it is sometimes employed for dyeing
wool of a dark brown color; but the bark of the Black Walnut
is preferable for this purpose.

On a live tree the cellular tissue, when first exposed, is of a
pure white; in a moment it changes to a beautiful lemon-color,
and soon after to a deep brown.

If the trunk of the Butternut is pierced in the month which
precedes the unfolding of the leaves, a pretty copious discharge
ensues of a slightly-sugary sap, from which, by evaporation,
sugar is obtained of a quality inferior to that of the Sugar Maple.

Although the Butternut, as has been seen, possesses useful
properties, I do not think it sufficiently valuable, either in the
arts or for fuel, to recommend its introduction into the forests
of the Old Continent: it should find place only in our plea-
sure-grounds.

PLATE XXXI.

A leaf of half Us natural size. Fig. 1. A nut loith its husk. Fig. 2. A
nut Wctliout lis husk.

PECANNUT HICKORY

JuGLAXS OLiv^FORMis. J. fulioUs plunmis, suhpetiolatis, falcatis, serrn-
ils; fnwta ohlongo, irrombndo-quadrangulo ; mice olicaformi, leii.

Carya olivaformis. NuTT.

This species, ■which is found in Upper Louisiana, is called,
by the French of Illinois and New Orleans, Pacanier, and its
fruit Pacanes. This name has been adopted bj- the inhabitants
of the United States, who call it Pecannut. On the borders of
the rivers Missouri, Illinois, St. Francis, and Arkansas, it is
most abundantly multiplied : it is also common on the river
Wabash ; on the Ohio it is found for 200 miles from its junction
with the Mississippi ; higher than this it becomes more rare,
and is not seen bc3'ond Louisville. Mj? father, in traversing
this country, learned from the French inhabitants, who ascend
the Mississippi in quest of furs, that it is not found on that
river beyond the mouth of the Great Mackakity, wliich dis-
charges itself in the latitude of 42° 51'.'^'

This tree grows most naturally in cold and wet grounds.
There is a swamp of 800 acres, situated on the right bank of
the Ohio, opposite to the river Cumberland, which is said to be
entirely covered with it, and which is called, bj' the French,
La Pacaniere.

The Pecannut is a beautiful ti'ee, with a straight and well-
shaped trunk ; in the forests it reaches the height of sixty or
seventy feet. Its wood is coarse-grained, and, like the other
Hickories, heavy and compact : it possesses also great strength
and durability ; but in these respects it is inferior to some spe-

* [It bears fruit iu gardens near I'liilaJelpliia, but can scarcely be said to per-
fect it.]

114

P.'uaiuMiiU }li( koiv

t ^1/1/ III/ 1. \- < ^//ii(r-/hi-//ihi-.

PECANNUT HICKORY. 115

cies hereafter to be described. Its buds, like those of the Black
Walnut and Butternut, are uncovered. The leaves are from
twelve to eighteen inches in length, and are supported by peti-
oles somewhat angular, and slightly downy in the spring.
Each leaf is composed of six or seven pair of sessile leaflets
and terminated by a petiolated odd one, which is commonly
smaller than the pair immediately preceding. The leaflets on
flourishing trees are from two to three inches long, ovate, ser-
rate, and remarkable for the circular form of the upper edge,
while the lower one is less rounded. It is also to be noticed
that the main rib is placed a little below the middle of the
leaflet.

The nuts, which are usually abundant, are contained in a
husk from one to two lines thick, and have four slightly-promi-
nent angles corresponding to their internal divisions. They
vary in length from an inch to an inch and a half, are pointed
at the extremities, of a cylindrical form, and of a yellowish
color, marked at the period of perfect maturity with blackish
or purple lines. The shell is smooth and thin, though too hard
to be broken by the fingers : the kernel is full, and, not being
divided by ligneous partitions, is easily extracted. These nuts,
which are of a very agreeable taste, form an object of petty
commerce between Upper and Lower Louisiana. From New
Orleans they are exported to the West Indies and to the ports
of the United States. They are not only better than any other
species of North American Walnuts, but they appear to me to
be more delicately flavored than those of Europe. And, be-
sides, wild varieties of the Pecannut are found, the fruit of
which is much larger than that of the European Walnut unim-
proved by culture. I am of opinion, then, that this tree merits
the attention both of Americans and Europeans, and that by
assiduous cultivation it may be brought to a high degree of per-
fection. These advantages, it is true, are balanced in part by
the slowness of its growth ; there are trees in France which

116 BITTER NUT HICKORY.

have boon jjlanted more than thirty years, and wliich do not
yield fruit.

If the practice should be successfully adopted of grafting the
Pecannut on tlie Black Walnut, or on the Common Walnut, its
vegetation would Ije incomparably more ra})id, and no motive
should discourage its propagation in Europe.

PLATE XXXII.

A leaf of half its natural size. Fig. 1. A nut with its husk. Fig. 2. A
nui without its kusk.

BITTERNUT HICKORY.

JuGLANS AJiARA. J. urhor VMxima, foliolis 7-9"'", glabris, conspicuh
serratis, impari hrcviter pdiolaio : frueiu subrotando-ovoldco, supenil
suiuris promimilis ; mice led, subglobosa, mucronatd: putamine fragili,
nucleo amaro.

Carya amara. Nutt.

This species is generally known in New Jersey by the name
of Bitternut Hickory ; in Pennsylvania, and particularly in the
county of Lancaster, it is called White Hickor}^, and sometimes
Swamp Hickory ; ftirther south, it is confounded with the Pig-
nut Hickory. The French of Illinois, like the inhabitants of
New Jersey, give it the name of Bitternut, which, as it indi-
cates one of the peculiar properties of the fruit, I have chosen
to retain.

The Bitternut Hickory, I believe, is nowhere found much
beyond the boundaries of Vermont, in the 4.jtli degree of lati-
tude. It is not seen in the province of Maine, where the borders
of the rivers ofl'er situations analosious to those in which it

//.?,:

Bit (CI Nil I {JulcoTy

B I T T E II N U T HICKORY. 117

abounds a few degrees farther south. In Bergen woods, six
miles from New York, and in the bottoms which stretch along
the Ohio, it grows to a very lofty stature : I have measured
trees which were ten or twelve feet in circumference and seventy
or eighty feet high. It attains these dimensions only in spots
where the soil is excellent, constantly cool, and often inundated
by creeks and rivers. It is probably because it thrives most in
such situations that it is sometimes called Swamj:* Hickory. Of
all the Hickories, the vegetation of this species is the latest : I
have uniformly observed that its leaves unfold a fortnight after
the others. On flourishing trees, at an age to bear fruit, they are
twelve or fifteen inches in length and nearly as much in breadth ;
the size, as in other vegetables, varies according to the nature
of the soil and the situation of the leaf upon a lower or upon
an upper branch. Each leaf is comj^osed of three or four pair
of leaflets and terminated by an odd one, which is larger than
the preceding pair. The leaflets are about six inches in length
and an inch in breadth, sessile, oval-acuminate, deeply toothed,
smooth, and of a dusky green. When the tree has shed its leaves
it may be distinguished by its 3'ellow and naked buds.

In Pennsylvania and New Jersey, the Bitternut Hickory
blossoms about the 2-5th of May. The peduncles of the male
flowers are in pairs, each supporting three flexible and pendu-
lous aments : they are attached at the basis of the shoots of the
same season, while the female aments, which are not con-
spicuous, are placed at the exti'emity.

The fruit is ripe about the beginning of October; it is so
plentiful that several bushels are sometimes gathered from a
single tree. The husk is tliin, flesh}', and surmounted on its
upper half by four wing-like appendages. It never becomes
ligneous, like those of the other Hickories, but softens and de-
cays. The form of the nut in this species is more constant and
more regular than in the others. It is broader than it is long,
being six or seven lines one way and ten lines the other. The

118 B I T T E R N U T II I C K 0 R Y.

slu'll is Avliitc. pmootli, and thin enough to be brolvcn by the
fingers. The kernel is remarkable for the deep inequalities
produced on ever}- side by its foldings. It is so harsh and bitter
that squirrels and other animals will not feed on it while any
other nut is to be found.

In some parts of Pennsylvania whei'e this tree is multiplied
an oil is extracted from the nuts, which is used for burning in
lamps and other inferior purposes. But from these experiments,
in which individuals have succeeded, it is not to be concluded
that a sufficient product of this sort can be obtained to form a
branch of industry; neither this nor any other species of Wal-
nut is abundant enough in the United States.

In the texture of its bark, and in the color of its heart and
sap, the Bitternut Hickory resembles the other Hickories, and
its wood possesses, though in an inferior degree, the weight,
strength, tenacity, and elasticity which so plainly distinguish
them. At Lancaster it is used for fuel; but it is not considered
superior to the White Oak nor sold at a higher price.

The Bitternut Hickory exists and bears fruit in several gardens
in France ; but it is of no value for its nuts, and flourishes only
in very fertile soils. As its wood, also, is proved in America to
be inferior to that of the following species, I think it should not
be propagated in the forests of Europe.

PLATE XXXIII.

A leaf of the natural she. Fig. 1. A nut v:ith its husk. Fig. L'. A nut
inthout its husk.

/>/.!.,

AA.'itcr Iiilti'i- Niil llul-;oiv

( ^/,'i//,i/i.'' iuiii<:/ii(t

WATER BITTERNUT HICKORY.

Jfglans aquatica. J. foliolis 9-11"'^, lanceolato-acuminatis, suhserratis,
sessilibus, irtipari breviter petiolaio: frudibus pedunculatis, mice sub-
depressa, parvd, rubiginosd, tenerd.

Carya aquatica. Ndtt

No specific name has hitlierto been given this species, which
is confined to the Southern States ; it is confounded with the
Pignut Hickory, though differing from it in many respects.
The name which I propose appears sufficiently appropriate; for
I have always found this tree in swamps, and ditches which
surround the ricefields, where it is accompanied by the Red-
flowering Maple, Tupelo, Cj^press, and Carolina Poplar. The
Water Bitternut Hickory grows to the height of forty or fifty
feet, and in its general appearance resembles the other Hickories.
Its leaves are eight or nine inches long, and of a beautiful green.
They are composed of four or five pair of sessile leaflets sur-
mounted by a petiolated odd one. The leaflets are serrate, four
or five inches long, eight or nine lines broad, and very similar
to the leaves of the Peach-tree.

The husk is thin, and the nuts are small, angular, a little de-
pressed at the sides, somewhat rough, of a reddish color, and
very tender. The kernel is very bitter, formed in folds like
that of the Bittemut Hickory, and, as may be supposed, is not
eatable. The wood of this species, though j^fii'taking of the
common properties of the Hickories, is in every respect inferior
to the others, from the nature of the grounds on which it grows.

The Water Bitternut Hickory, which I have introduced into
France, flourishes unchecked by the rigor of our winters; but 1
do not think it deserves to find a place in the forests of Europe,
nor to be spared in clearing the new lands of America. The
southern parts of the United States possess many sorts of timber

119

120 M <) C K E R N U T II I C K 0 R Y.

more usl'AiI in building, to which purpose this, lilce the other
IJickoiies, is poorly tidapted.

PLATE XXXIV.

A branch iciih leaves of (he natural size. Fig. 1. Nuts with their husks.
Fig. 2. Kats luithout tJicir Iiusks.

MOCKERNUT HICKORY.

Jug LANS TOMENTOSA. J. folioUs 7-9°'^, leviter serratis, conspicul villosis,

iinpari subpetiolalo ; amentis compositis, longissimis, filiformibus, eximih

iohicntosis : fructu globoso vel oblongo; mice quadrangula, crassCi, duris-

simdque.

Ciirya touieutosa. Nutt.

In the parts of New Jersey which lie on the river Hudson,
and in the city of New York and its vicinity, this species is
known by the name of Mockernut Hickory, and, less commonly,
of White-heart Hickory; at Philadelphia and Baltimore, and iu
Virginia, that of Common Hickory is the only one in use. The
French of Illinois call it Noi/cr dur, or Hard Walnut. The first
of these denominations, which is descriptive of the fruit, I have
for that reason adopted.

This species is not, as the name which it bears in that country
would indicate, more multiplied in Pennsylvania, and farther
south, than the other Hickories. I have not seen it north of
Portsmouth in New Hampshire; though 100 miles south, in the
neighborhood of Boston and Providence, it is common. It is
most abundant in the forests that still remain on the coast of
the Middle States and in those which cover the upper parts of
tbe Carolinas and of Georgia; but in the last-mentioned States

y/.jj.

Mockej- Nnl llirlanv

i

M 0 C K E R N U T HICKORY. 121

it becomes more rare in approacliing the sea, as the sterility
of the soil, in general dry and sandy, is unpropitious to its
growth. I have noticed, however, that this is the only Hickory
which springs in the pine-barrens : the sprouts are burnt every
year, and never rise higher than three or four feet. I have
made the same observation in traversing the Big Barrens of
Kentucky and Tennessee, where the Mockernut Hickory and
Black Jack Oak alone are seen. They survive the conflagra-
tions which almost every spring envelop the prairies ; but their
vegetation is checked by the fire, and they do not exceed the
height of eight or ten feet.

Like most of the Walnuts, the Mockernut Hickory flourishes
in rich soils, and chiefly on the gentle acclivities which surround
the swamps, where it grows mingled with the Sweet Gum, Pop-
lar, Sugar Maple, Bitternut Hickory, and Black Walnut. In
these situations it reaches its greatest size, which is commonly
about sixty feet in height and eighteen or twenty inches in diar
meter. I remember to have seen larger Mockernut Hickories
near Lexington in Kentucky; but this exti'aordinary growth in
several species of trees is rarely seen on this side of the Alle-
ghany, and is attributable to the extreme fertility of the soil in
the Western country. Of all the Hickories, however, the
Mockernut succeeds best on lands of a middling quality; for it
forms a part of the waste and impoverished forests which cover
the meager, sandy soil of Lower Virginia, though under these
disadvantages it exhibits but a mean and stunted appearance.

The buds of this species are large, short, of a grayish white,
and very hard : in the winter, after the falling of the leaf, they
afford the only characteristic by which the tree can be distin-
guished when it exceeds eight or ten feet in height. In the
beginning of May the buds swell, the external scales fall off,
and the inner ones soon after burst and display the young leaf.
The leaves grow so rapidly that I have seen them gain twenty
inches in eighteen days. They are composed of four pair of

I.— 8*

122 .AI 0 C K E K X U T II I C K 0 R Y.

sessile leaflets and terminated l3j an odd one. The leaflets are
large, oval-acuminate, slightly serrate, odorous, pretty thicls;, and
hairy underneath, as is also the common petiole to which they
are attached. With the first frost the leaves change to a beau-
tiful yellow, and fall soon after. The male flowers appear on
pendulous, downy, axillary aments, six or eight inches long;
the female flowers, Avhicli are not very conspicuous, are of a j^ale
rose-color and are situated at the extremity of the young shoots.

The fruit is ripe about the 15th of November. It is odorous,
sessile or rarely pedunculated, and commonly united in pairs.
In form and size it exhibits remarkable varieties : on some ti'ees
it is round, with depressed seams, on others oblong, with angu-
lar or prominent seams ; it is sometimes two inches long and
twelve or fifteen lines in diameter, and sometimes of less than
half this size. It diifers also in weight as well as in configura-
tion and volume, varying from one drachm to four. The
largest nuts might be confounded with those of the Thick
Shellbark Hickory, and the smallest with those of the Pignut
Hickory : I have selected for the drawing a nut of the most
common size. The shell is ver^^ thick, somewhat channelled,
and extremely hard. The kernel is sweet, but minute, and
diflicult to extract, on account of the strong partitions which
divide it : hence, probably, is derived the name of Mockernut,
and hence, also, this fruit is rarely seen in the markets.

The trunk of the old Mockernut Hickory is covei'ed with a
thick, hard, and rugged bark. Its wood is of the same color
and texture with the other Hickories, and characterized by the
qualities which render this class of trees so remarkable. It is
particularly esteemed for fuel, for which use trees of six or
eight inches in diameter are preferred. At this stage of its
growth, while the heart, the proper color of which is reddish, is
not j-et developed, it frequently goes by the name of White-
heart Ilickorj'. In the countiy a greenish color is sometimes
extracted from the bark ; but it is not extensively in use.

/VM.

Slioll hiirlv Hukorv

S 11 E L L B A II K HICKORY. 123

Of all the Hickories this species is of the slowest growth, —
a fact which I have proved by planting nuts of the several
species and by comparing the length of their annual shoots. I
have also been led to believe that it is the most liable to be
attacked by worms, and especially by the CaUkUum flexuosum,
whose larva eats within the body of the tree. These considera-
tions appear sufficiently weighty to induce cultivators, in form-
ing large j)lantations, to prefer some of the species which are
described in the sequel.

PLATE XXXV.

A leaf of the third of its natural size. Fig. 1. A rail icith its husk. Fig. 2.
A nut without its husk. Fig. 3. Callidium flexAiosum.

SHELLBARK HICKORY.

JuGLAXS SQUAMOSA. J. folioUs quAiiis, mojoribus, longh peliolatis, ovato-

aciuninatis, serraiis, sublus villosis, inipari sessili; amentis masculis,

compositis, glabris, Jiliformibus : fruciu globoso, depresso, majore; mice

eompressd alba.

Carya alba. Nutt.

The singular disposition of the bark in this species has given
rise to the descriptive names of Shellbark, Shagbark, and Scaly-
bark Hickory, the first of which, as being most generally in use
in the Middle and Southern States, I have adopted. Many
descendants of the Dutch settlers, who inhabit the parts of
New Jersey near the city of New York, call it Kiski/ Thomas
nut, and the French of Illinois know it by the name of Noyer
tendre, or Soft "Walnut.

Beyond Portsmouth, in New Hampshire, I have not observed

1:14 SHELLBAKK HICKORY.

the SlielU-iark Hickory; and even there, its vegetati(jii being
impeded by the rigor of the climate, its stature is low and its
fruit small. I have not found it in the forests of the district
of Maine,* nor in those of Vermont, situated a little higher
toward the north. It abounds on the shores of Lake Erie, about
Geneva in Genesee, along the river Mohawk, in the neighbox'-
hood of Goshen in New Jersey, and on the banks of the rivers
Susquehanna and Schuylkill in Pennsylvania. In Maryland,
in the lower parts of Virginia, and in the other Southern States,
it is less common. In South Carolina I have not noticed it
nearer Charleston than the parish of Goose Creek, about twenty-
four miles distant. It is met with in the Western States, but
not as frequently as the following species, — the Thick Shellbark
Hickory, to which it bears a striking analogy, and with which
it is confounded by the inhabitants. East of the Alleghanies
the Shellbark Hickory grows almost exclusively about swamps
and wet grounds, which are exposed to be inundated for several
Aveeks together : in these situations it is found in company with
the Swamp White Oak, Red-flowering Maple, Sweet Gum, But-
tonwood, and Tupelo. Of all the Hickories this sj^ecies grows
to the greatest height with proportionally the smallest diameter,
for it is sometimes seen eighty or ninety feet high and less than
two feet thick. The trunk is destitute of branches, regularly
shaped, and of an almost unifonn size for three-quarters of its
length, thus forming a very fine tree. The greatest peculiarity
in its appearance, and that by which it is most easily distin-
guished, is the surface of the trunk. The exterior Ijark is
divided into a great number of long, narrow plates, wliich
bend outward at the ends and adhere only in the middle.
Bristling in this manner with projecting points, the Shellbark
Hickory attracts the attention of the most careless observer.
This remarkable exfoliation of the epidermis takes place only

* [The SliL'llbark Hickory is fuuuj iu the comity of York, in Maine. Emeuso.n.]

S II E L L B A R K HICKORY. 125

in trees which exceed ten inches in diameter, though it is much
earlier indicated by seams. This characteristic, by which the
tree may be recognised in winter when stripped of its leaves,
does not exist during the seven or eight first years of its growth ;
and during this period it may easily be confounded with the
Mockernut Hickory and Pignut Hickory, if recourse is not had
to the buds. In these two species, and generally in all trees,
the buds are formed of scales closely applied one upon another ;
in the species which we are considering, the two external scales
adhere for only half the length of the bud and leave the upper
part uncovered. It is my opinion that in this disposition of the
scales, which is peculiar to this and the following species, should
be sought the origin of the exfoliation of the bark. When the
sap begins to ascend in the spring, the outer scales fall, and the
inner ones swell and become covered with a yellowish silky
down : after a fortnight, the buds, which are already two inches
long, open and give birth to the young leaves. The growth of
the leaves are so rapid, that in a month they attain their full
length, which on young and vigorous trees is sometimes twenty
inches. They consist of two pair of leaflets with a sessile odd
one. The leaflets are very large, oval-acuminate, serrate, and
slightly downy underneath. The male flowers, which in the
State of New York appear from the 15th to the 20th of May,
are disposed, as in the preceding species, on long, glabrous, fili-
form, pendulous aments, of which three are united on a common
peduncle, attached at the base of the young shoots ; the female
flowers, of a greenish hue, and scarcely apparent, are situated
at the extremity. The fruit of the Shellbark Hickory is ripe
about the beginning of October. Some years it is so abundant
that several bushels may be gathered from a single tree. It
varies in size, according to the soil and the exposure in which
it is produced ; but five and a half inches may be assumed as
the average of its circumference. The shape is uniformly
round, with four depressed seams, in which the husk opens at

12G S II E L L B A R K HICKORY.

the season of perfect maturity, dividing itself completely into
equal sections. The entire separation of the husk, and its
thickness disproportioned to the size of the nut, form a cha-
racter peculiar to the Shellbark Hickories. The nuts of this
species are small, white, compressed at the sides, and marked
by four distinct angles, which correspond to the divisions of the
husk.

The Sliollbark nut contains a fuller and sweeter kernel than
any American Walnut except the Pecannut. The shell, though
thin, must be cracked before being bi'ought upon the table, as it
is too hard to be crushed in the fingers like the European Wal-
nut, which is certainly a superior fruit. These nuts are in such
request that they form a small article of commerce, registered
on the list of exports of the products of the United States.
This exportation, which does not exceed four or five hundred
bushels annually, takes place from New York, and from the small
ports of Connecticut, to the Southern States, to the West India
Islands, and even to Liverpool, where the fruit is known by the
name of Hickory nuts. In the market of New York they are
sold at two dollars a bushel. They are gathered in the forests,
and from insulated trees which in some places have been spared
in clearing the lands, — a precaution which I have particularly
noticed to have been used near Goshen in New Jersey, and on
several estates about thirty miles beyond Albany.

The Indians who inhabit the shores of Lakes Erie and Michi-
gan lay up a store of these nuts for the winter, a part of which
they pound in wooden mortars, and, boiling the paste in water,
collect the oily matter which swims upon the surface, to season
their food.

Before speaking of the properties of the wood, I cannot for-
bear mentioning a fine variety of Shellbark nuts produced upon
1 farm at Seacocus, near Snakehill in New Jersej'. They are
nearly twice as large as any that I have seen elsewhere, and
have a white shell with rounded pi'ominences instead of angles.

S H E L L B A R K HICKORY. 127

A century of cultivation, perhaps, would not advance the spe-
cies generally to an equal degree of perfection, and probably this
variety might still be improved by grafting.

The vpood of the Shellbark Hickory possesses all the charac-
teristic properties of the Hickories, being strong, elastic, and
tenacious. It has also their common defects of soon decaying
and of being eaten by worms. As this tree stretches up to a
great height with nearly a uniform diameter, it is sometimes
employed at New York and Philadelphia for the keels of vessels ;
but it is now seldom used for this purpose, most of the large
trees near the seaports being already consumed. Its wood is
found to split most easily and to be the most elastic ; for this
reason it is used for making baskets, and also for whip-handles,
which are esteemed for their supjaleness, and of which several
cases are annually exported to England. For the same excel-
lence, and for the superior fineness of its grain, it is selected in
the neighborhood of New York and Philadelphia for the back-
bows of Windsor chairs, which are wholly of wood. I have
frecpiently observed, that among the Hickory wood brought to
New York for fuel, this species predominated.

Such are the uses to which the Shellbark Hickory appears
peculiarly adapted. It has before been seen to be a tree of lofty
stature and majestic appearance : I should therefore recommend
its introduction into the Eurojjean forests, where it should be
consigned to cool and humid places, congenial with those in
which it flourishes in America. In the north of Europe it
could not fail of succeeding, as it securely braves the most in-
tense cold.

PLATE XXXVI.

Fig. 1. A nut with its husk. Fig. 2. A section of the husk. Fig. 3. A nut
without its husk. Fig. 4. A barren anient divided into three parts.

THICK SHELLBARK HICKORY.

JcGLANs LACiNiosA. J. foliis yiKijoribus, foUoHs 7-9"'-', ovato-aeuminaiis,
serraiis, subiomentosis, mipari, peiiolato: fructu major c, ovato; mice
oblongd, crassd, mediocriler compressd.

Carya sulcata. Nutt.

Tuis species beare a striking analogy to the preceding, and is
frequently confounded witli it by the inhabitants of the Western
country : some of them distinguish it by the name of Thick
Shellbark Hickory, which should be j^reserved as its appropriate
denomination. East of the Alleghanies, this tree is rare and is
found onl}^ in a few places ; it grows on the Schuylkill River
thirty or forty miles from its junction with the Delaware, and
in the vicinity of Springfield, fifteen or twenty miles from Phi-
ladelphia, where its fruit is called Springfield nut. It is also
found in Gloucester county, in Virginia, under the name of
Gloucester Walnut. These different denominations confirm my
observation that this species is little multiplied ou the eastern
side of the Alleghany Mountains, — a fact of Avhich I became
assured in travelling through the country. It abounds, on the
other hand, in the bottoms which skirt the Ohio and the rivers
which empty into it, where it unites Avith the Honej- Locust,
Black Maple, Hackberry, Black Walnut, Wild Cherry, White
and Red Elm, Box Elder, White Maple, and Buttonwood, to
form the thick and gloomy forests which cover these valle3-s.
Like the Shellbark Hickory, it grows to the height of eighty
feet, and its ample head is supported by a straight trunk, in
diameter proportioned to its elevation. The bark exhibits the
same singular arrangement with that of the Shellbark Hickory :
it is divided into strips from one to three feet long, which are
warped outward at the end and attached only at the middle.

They fall, and are succeeded by others similarly- disposed. It
l:i8

/>/. ;;-

riiicUSIioll l)aik llukorv

THICK SlIELLBARK HICKORY. 129

is only observable that in this species the plates are narrower,
more numerous, and of a lighter color ; from which differences
I have thought j^roper to give it the specific name of Jaciniosa.
The outer scales of the buds do not adhere entirely to the inner
ones, but retire as in the Shellbark Hickoiy. The leaves also,
which vary in length from eight to twenty inches, observe the
same process in unfolding, and are similar in size, configuration,
and texture ; but they differ in being composed of seven leaflets
and sometimes of nine, instead of five, the invariable number
of the Shellbark Hickory. The male aments are disposed in
the same form, though they are, perhaps, a little longer than in
the other species. The female flowers appear, not very conspi-
cuously, at the extremity of the shoots of the same spring.
They are succeeded by a large oval fruit, more than two inches
long and four or five inches in circumference. Like that of the
Shellbark Hickorj', it has four depressed seams, which, at its
complete maturit}^, open through their whole length for the
escape of the nut. The nut of this species is widely different
from the other ; it is nearly twice as big, longer than it is broad,
and terminated at each end in a firm point. The shell is also
thicker and of a yellowish hue, while that of the Shellbark nut
is white.

From the color of its nut, the Shellbark Hickory received
the specific name of alha, which I have changed, as it indicates
a character possessed by it in common with another species
found in the Royal Gardens of the Pdit Trianon. This species,
originally from North America, belongs to the Scalybark Hicko-
ries. The nuts are white, and the entire fruit, though a little
inferior in size, resembles that of the proper Shellbark Hickory.
By its foliage it is related to the Thick Shellbark Hickory^ each
leaf being composed of four pair of leaflets with an odd one.
The specific name of amhigua might with propriety be given
to it.

The nuts of the Thick Shellljark Hickory are brought every

Vol. I.— U

130 THICK SIIELLBARK HICKORY.

autumn to the market of Pliiladelpliia, but the quantity does
not exceed a few bushels, and they are generally sold mixed
Avith those of the Mockernut Hickorj-, which resemble some
varieties of this species. The Gloucester Hickory I consider
only as a variety of the Thick Shellbark Hickory, to which it
bears the strongest resemblance in its 3'oung shoots, in the num-
ber of its leaflets, and in its barren aments. The only essential
difference is in the nuts; those of the Gloucester Walnut are a
third larger, with the shell one-half thicker, and so hard that it
requires pretty heavy blows of a hammer to crack them. In
color they resemble the nuts of the Mockernut Hickor}^, with
the finest varieties of which they might, from this circumstance,
be confounded.

The Thick Shellbark Ilickorj', as has been said, is nearlj-
related to the Shellbark Hickory; and its wood, which is of the
same color and texture, unites the peculiar qualities of that
species with such as are common to the Hickories. Its fruit,
though larger, is inferior in taste; and this consideration should
induce proprietors in the Western countr}', in clearing their new
lands, to spare the true Shellbark Hickory in preference when
both species are found upon the same soil. For the same reason,
and for its fivoraljle growth in less fertile grounds, and even in
elevated situations, — a fact which I have observed near Browns-
ville on the Monongahela River, — the same preference should, I
think, be given to it in the forests of Europe.

In the description of the Scalybark Hickories, it has been seen
that they exliil)it many striking traits of resemblance, which
may warrant the grouping of them into a secondar}' section.
Besides their generic and specific characters, they possess others
peculiar to themselves, by which they are so nearly related that,
Avere it not for some remarkable differences, they might be
treated as a single species. The general characters of the
Hickories are, three-clefted, pliable, and pendulous male aments,
and certain common properties of the wood. To these are

THICK SHELLS ARK HICKORY. 131

added, in the Scaly Hickories, a very thick husk, covering the
nut completely, and divided into four parts when ripe ; a shaggy
bark on the trunk, indicated, in my opinion, by the external
scales of the buds not adhering to those beneath; and leaves
composed of very large leaflets of a uniform shape and texture.
In comparing the three species with each other, essential differ-
ences are observed. The Shellbark Hickory, for instance, and
the JugJans ambigua, are constantly distinguished by the num-
ber of leaflets, which is always five in the first species and nine
in the last. The nuts and the entire fruit, on the other hand,
are so much alike, that they might be mistaken for the product
of the same tree : the fruit of both is round, with depressed
seams, and the nuts are similarly moulded and equally white.
If, on a more attentive examination, the Gloucester Ilickorj' is
determined to be a distinct species from the Thick Shellbark
Ilickorj', it will be observed that they resemble each other in
their leaves, composed of seven and sometimes of nine leaflets,
and in the luxuriant force of their vegetation, but that they
difler in their fruit, Avhich in the Thick Shellbark Hickory is
oblong, with a compressed nut, like that of the Shellbark
Hickory, of twice the size, and of a yellowish color, and in the
Gloucester Hickory spherical and very large, with a large
grayish-white nut, nearly round, whose shell is two lines thick
and extremely hard. In fine, it is to be remarked that the
species and the variety of the Scal^'bark Hickory which have
been described grow, or at least are most abundantly multiplied,
in regions far remote from each other.

PLATE XXXVII.

A leaf of one-third of Us ludural size. Fig. 1. A section of the husk
Fig. 2. ]\\ds.

PIGNUT HICKORY.

JuGLANS PORCiNA. J. folioUs 5-7"'^, ovaio-acuminatis, serraiis, glabris ;
amciiHs mascidis comjoositis, filiformibus, glabris; fruciu pyriformi vel
globoso ; mice mbiirnd, Icvi, darissimd.

CSrya poreiiia. Nutt.

Tffls sjDecies is generallj- known in the United States bj the
name of Pignut and Ilognut Hickory; sometimes also by that
of Bi'Dom Hickoiy. The first of these names is most commonly
in use; the others are known only in some districts of Penn-
sylvania, and particularly in the county of Lancaster. Ports-
mouth in New Hampshire may be considered as limiting, toward
the north, the climate of this tree. A little fiirther south it is
abundant, and in the Atlantic parts of the Middle States it heljjs,
with the Mockeiuiut Hickory, White Oak, Swamp White Oak,
Sweet Gum, and Dogwood, to form the mass of the forests. In
the Southern States, esj^ecially near the coast, it is less common
in the woods, being found only on the borders of the swamps
and in places which are wet without being absolutel}' marsh}- or
exposed to be long inundated. This tree is met with in the
Western country, but less frequently, I believe, than the Thick
Shellbark and Mockernut Hickories. I have observed that the
last-mentioned species grows wherever the Pignut is found, but
that the Pignut does not alwaj'S accompany the Mockernut,
which is satisfied with a less substantial soil. This remark I
have made more particular!}' in the lower parts of Virginia, of
the two Carolinas, and of Georgia. It appears, then, that, with
the exception of the States of Vermont and New Hampshire, of
the district of Maine, of the Genesee country, and of the cold
and mountainous tracts along the whole range of the Alleghany
Mountains, this tree is more or less alnuidant in the forests
throughout the United States.

/"/M

I'loinit Hickory

PIGNUT HICKORY. 133

The Pignut Hickory is one of the largest trees of the United
States. It grows to the height of seventy or eighty feet, with a
diameter of three or four feet. In the winter, when stripped of
its leaves, it is easily known by the shoots of the preceding
summer, which are brown, less than half as large as those of
the Mockernut and Shellbark Hickories, and terminated by
small oval buds. At this season it is easy also to distinguish
the Bitternut Hickory by its naked and yellow buds. The buds
of this species, as in the other Hickories with scaly buds, are
more than an inch in length a few days before their unfolding.
The inner scales are the largest, and of a reddish color. They
do not fall till the leaves are five or six inches long. The
leaves are compound, and vary in size and in the number of
leaflets, according to the moisture and fertility of the soil. In
rich grounds, they are eighteen inches long; and the comjjlete
number of leaflets is three pairs with an odd one. The leaflets
are four or five inches long, acuminate, serrate, nearly sessile,
and glabrous or smooth on both sides. On vigorous trees, which
grow in shady exposures, the petiole is of a violet color.

The male aments are smooth, filiform, flexible, and pendu-
lous : they are two inches long, and in their arrangement re-
semble those of the other Hickories. The female flowers are
greenish, not very conspicuous, and situated at the extremity
of the shoot : the fruit succeeds them in pairs as often as singly.
The husk is thin and of a beautiful green : when ri23e, it opens
through half its length for the passage of the nut. The nut is
small, smooth, and very hard on account of the thickness of the
shell. Its kernel is sweet but meagre, and difficult to extract,
from the firmness of the partitions. These nuts are never
carried to market, but serve for food to swine, raccoons, and
t\io. numerous species of sc^uirrels which people the forests.

In the Pignut Hickory, the form and size of the nuts vary
more than in the other species. Some are oval, and when
covered with their husks resemble young figs ; others are

134 r I G N U T HICKORY.

broader tlian tliey are long, and others are perfectly round.
Among these various forms, some nuts are as large as the thumb
and others not bigger than the little finger. Although the
same tree yields fruit of the same form every 3'ear, I cannot,
after an attentive examination of the young shoots and of the
aments, consider these differences in any other light than as
varieties. The two most remarkable of them are described in
the new edition of the Species Plantarum, by Willdenow, as dis-
tinct species. That with oblong fruit is called JugJans glahra,
and that with round fruit and a husk somewhat rough, Juglans
ohcordata. Dr. Muhlenberg admits this distinction ; but, with
all the deference which I owe to his botanical knowledge, I
cannot adopt his oj^iniou.

The wood of the Pignut Hickory resembles that of the other
species in the color of its sap and of its heart : it possesses also
their excellencies and their defects. I have conversed with
wheelwrights in the country, who affirmed that it is the strong-
est and the most tenacious of the Hickories, and who, for that
reason, preferred it to any other for axle-trees and axe-helves.
These considerations lead me to recommend its introduction
into the forests of Europe, where its success would be certain.

PLATE XXXVIII.

A branch iciih its leaves of one-third of the natural size. Fig. 1. A nut
icith its husk, {oblonr/ raricti/.) Fir/. 2. A nut ivilhoui its huslc. Fig. 3.
A nut leilh its husl:, [round varietg.) Fig. 4. A nut icillioul Us husk.

r/ijo.

Nu til leu- If i r kory Nil t

NUTMEG HICKORY.

JuGLANS MTRisTic^FORMis. J. foliis quiiiis, folioUs ovato-acuminatis, ser-
ratis, glabris: fructu ovaio, scabriusculo ; mice minimd, durissimd.

Ciirya myristica3formis. Nhtt.

No specific denomination has hitherto been given to this
species hj the inhabitants of the Middle States, to which it is
peculiar : that of Nutmeg Hickory, which I have formed,
ap^iears sufficiently appropriate, from the resemblance of its
nuts to a nutmeg.

I have not myself found this tree in the forests, and hence I
conclude that it is not common. It is true I had not, at the
jjeriod of my residence in that part of the United States, con-
ceived the design of the present work, and did not devote my-
self entirely to the researches which have since given birth to
it. I am acquainted Avith the Nutmeg Hickory only by a
branch and a handful of nuts given me at Charleston, in the
fall of 1802, by the gardener of Mr. H. Izard, which he had
gathered in a swamp on his master's plantation of the Elms, in
the parish of Goose Creek. From this specimen alone I have
included the tree among the Hickories.

The leaves, which are composed of four or six leaflets with
an odd one, are symmetrically arranged. I remarked also that
the shoots of the preceding year were flexible and coriaceous.

The nuts are very small, smooth, and of a brown color, marked

with lines of white : the husk is thin, and somewhat rough on

the surfiice. The shell is so thick that it constitutes two-thirds

of the volume of the nut, which, consequently, is extremely

hard and has a minute kernel. The fruit is inferior even to

the Pignut.

I suspect that the Nutmeg Hickory is more common in Lower

l;!5

13G RECAPITULATION.

Louisiana :'' it belongs to inquirers who engage in researches
analogous to those which I have pursued in the Atlantic and
Western States, to study this tree more fully than I have been
able to do, and to complete the imperfect description which I
have given of it.

PLATE XXXIX.

A branch andnuls with their husks. Fiij. 1. .1 nut ifilhotit its IiusL

RECAPITULATION

PPtOPERTIES AND USES

HICKOEY WOOD.

In the summary introduction to the History of the "Walnuts
of North America, it was remarked, that those of the second
section, or the Hickories, exhibit great variations in the size and
shape of their fruit, in the number of leaflets which compose
their leaves, and in their general appearance, from the efi'ect of
soils of different degrees of moisture. Hence result, in many
cases, mutual reseml^lance so striking, that a person not familiar
with this class of trees might easily confound distinct species, or

* In the interesting work of Mr. W. Darby on Louisiana, published at Phila-
delphia in 1817, the Nutmeg Hickory is said to abound on the waters of Eod
Piiver in the Mississippi Territory. P. A. M.

R E C A r I T U L A T I 0 N. 137

describe as diflerent species what are mere varieties. On taking
off the epidermis, or dead part, the same organization is ob-
served in the bark of all the Hickories. In other trees the
fibrous and the cellular tissue are confounded; here, on the
contrary, they are separate, and the fibrous is regularly disposed
in the form of lozenges, which are smaller in young trees than
in such as are more fully grown. An arrangement so peculiar
and remarkable has a beautiful effect, and great advantage
might be taken of it in cabinet-making, if this bark was not,
like other species, liable to warp. It affords, nevertheless, an
interesting object in vegetable physiology. So close an analogy
exists in the wood of these trees, that^ when stripped of the bark,
no difference is discernible in the grain, which is coarse and
open in all, nor in the color of the heart, which is uniformly
reddish. To these conspicuous properties are added others
worthy of remark, which, as has been observed, though modi-
fied in the several species, are possessed by them all in a higher
degree than by any other tree of the same latitude in Europe or
America. These are — great weight, strength, and tenacity, a
speedy decay when exposed to heat and moisture, and peculiar
liability to injury from worms. According to these prominent
excellencies and defects, the uses of their wood are jDretty well
determined, and to these uses they are indiscriminately applied.
Hickory timber is employed in no part of the United States
in the building of houses, because, as has been before observed,
it is too heavy, and soon becomes worm-eaten. But if its
defects forbid its emplojTiient in architecture, its good qualities,
on the other hand, adapt it to many secondary uses, which
could not be as well subserved by any other wood. Throughout
the Middle States it is selected for the axle-trees of carriages,
for the handles of axes and other carpenters' tools, and for large
screws, particularly those of bookbinders' presses. The cogs of
mill-wheels are made of Hickory heart thoroughly seasoned; but
it is proper only for such wheels as are not exposed to moisture ;

1.— 9*

1.M8 EECAPITULxiTION.

and for this reason some other wood is, by many millwriglits,
preferred. The rods which form the back of Windsor chairs,
coach-whip handles, ramrods, I'ake-teeth, flails for thrashing
grain, and the bows of ox-yokes. — all these are objects ordi-
narily made of Hickory. At Baltimore it is used for the hoops
of sieves, and is more esteemed than the White Oak, which is
equally elastic, but more apt to peel off in small shreds into the
substance sifted. In the country near Augusta in Georgia I
have remarked that the common chairs are of Hickory wood.
In New Jersey it is employed for shoeing of sledges, — that is,
for covering the runners or parts which slide upon the snow;
but to be fit for this use, it must have been cut long enough to
have become perfectly dry.

Of the numerous trees of North America east of the Alleghany
Mountains, none except the Hickory is perfectly adapted to the
making of hoops for casks and boxes. For this purpose vast
quantities of it are consumed at home, and exported to the West
India Islands. The hooj^s are made of young Hickories from
six to twelve feet high, without choice as to the species. The
largest hoop-poles sold at Philadelphia and New York in Feb-
ruary, 1808, at three dollars a hundred. Each pole is split into
two parts, and the hoop is crossed and fastened by notches,
instead of being bound at the end with twigs, like those made
of Chestnut. From the solidity of the wood, this method is
sufficiently secure.

When it is considered how large a part of the productions of
the United States is packed for exportation in barrels, an esti-
mate may be formed of the necessary consumption of hoops. In
consequence of it, 3'oung trees proper for this object have be-
come scarce in all parts of the country which have long been
settled. The e"\dl is greater as they do not sprout a second time
from the same root, and as their growth is slow. The cooper
cannot lay up a store of them for future use; for, unless em-
ployed within a year, and often six months, after being cut, they

R E C xV r I T U L A T I 0 N. 139

are attacked by two species of insect; one of these, which eats
within the wood, and commits the greatest ravages, is repre-
sented on the plate of the Mockernut Hickory, the wood of
which species I have observed to be peculiarly liable to its
attacks.

The defects which unfit the Hickory for use in the building
of houses equally exclude it from the construction of vessels.
At New York and Philadelphia, the Shellbark and Pignut
Hickories have been taken for keels, and are found to last as
long as those of other wood, owing to their being alwajs in the
water. Of the two species, the Pignut would be preferable as
being less liable to split; but it is rarely found of as large di-
mensions as the other.

In sloops and schooners, the rings by which the sails arc
hoisted and confined to the mast are always of Hickory. I
have also been assured, that for attaching the cordage it makes
excellent pegs, which are stronger than those of Oak ; but they
should set loosely in the holes, as otherwise, for want of speedily
seasoning, they soon decay. For handspikes the Hickory is
particularly esteemed on account of its strength: it is accord-
ingl}' employed in most American vessels, and is exported for
the same purpose to England, where it sells from 50 to 100 per
cent, higher than Ash, which is brought also from the north of
the United States. The Hickories are cut without distinction
for tliis use; but the Pignut, I l:)elieve, is the best.

All the Hickories are very heav}^, and in a given volume
contain a great quantity of combustible matter. They produce
an ardent heat, and leave a heavy, compact, and long-lived coal
In this respect, no wood of the same latitude, in Europe or
America, can be compared to them: such, at least, is the
opinion of all Europeans who have resided in the United States.
At New York, Philadelphia, and Baltimore, people in easy cir-
cumstances burn no other wood; and, though it is sold 50 per
cent, higher than Oak, it is found profitable in use. It sold at

140 BECAPITULATIOX.

New York, the 20th of October, 1807, at fifteen dollars a cord,
and Oak wood at ten dollars. From its superior equality, the
Hickory is always sold separatelj'. I have noticed that, at
New York, the Shellbark predominated in the fuel, and at
Philadelphia and Baltimore, the Mockernut. At Baltimore,
the Shellbark, easily recognised by its scaly bark, is never seen.

The quantity of the respective species of Hickory consumed
in the cities is regulated by a soil and climate more favorable to
one than another, and not by an opinion entertained of their
comparative excellence; though experience shows the Mocker-
nut to be the best, and the Bitternut the poorest. This ditier-
ence, however, is too slight to be generally regarded.

Of the uses to which the Hickory is devoted in the United
States, two will principally contribute, together with the slow-
ness of its growth, to its entire extermination : these are the
cutting of the saplings for hoops and of the trees for fuel.
These considerations, independently of many accessory causes,
which hasten the destruction of the forests in this part of the
New World, lead me to believe that in less than fifty years they
Avill not furnish a tenth part of the hoops demanded in com-
merce. Hence arise motives sufficiently powerful to engage
proprietors, who seek to preserve their forests and to augment
their value, to multiply in them the most useful trees, and
especialh" the Hickories. The object might be fully attained
by planting the nuts, previously made to germinate in boxes
filled with earth, and kept moist in the cellar. The success of
this simple method is certain. It would be advantageous, also,
to plant a greater number than the soil can sustain, that, when
the poles are an inch in diameter, a part of them may be cut
for hoops,'-' while the rest are left to grow for fuel, or for other
uses to which the Hickory is appropriate.

* [Or for ■walking-sticks, for which the consuinptiun is considerable, and the
Jeniand constantly increasing. E.merson : ''Trees and Shrnbs of 3Iassachusetts."]

RECAPITULATION. 141

It has been seen, by what precedes, that, though the Hickory
wood has essential defects, they are compensated by good pro-
perties which render it valuable in the arts, and which entitle
it to the attention of Europeans, — above all, as a combustible.
Though its growth is slow during its early years, it should form
a part of our forests. But I doubt whether this can be effected
exce^it by planting nuts in the woods; for the trees, even when
very young, with difficulty survive transplantation. Before
they are three lines in diameter and eighteen inches tall, they
have a tap-root three feet long and destitute of fibres. Hence,
it has happened that, of more than a hundred thousand young-
plants produced by nuts which I have at different times sent to
France, very few are found alive. They have perished in the
removal from the nursery, or in the second transplantation to
the place of their ultimate destination. The Black Walnut and
Bitternut, on the contrary, whose roots do not descend deeply
and are plentifully garnished witli fibres, easily recover after
transplantation, even when six or eight feet high at the time of
their removal.

In concluding this article, I recommend particularly for pro-
pagation in European forests the Shellbark Hickory and the
Pignut Hickory, whose wood unites in the highest degree the
valuable properties of the group. I think, also, that the Pecan-
nut merits attention from promoters of useful culture, not so
much for its wood as for its fruit, which is excellent, and more
delicate than that of the European Walnut. It might probal)ly
be doubled in size if the practice was successfully adopted of
grafting this species upon the Black Walnut or upon the Com-
mon European Walnut.

MAPLES.

Of the species wliicli compose this genus, the number known
is already considerable, and will probably be augmented by the
future researches of Botanists, especially on the continent of
North America.

The Maples, in general, are loft}' and beautiful trees. One
of their principal characters consists in opposite leaves divided
into several verj^ distinct lobes. Capable of enduring an intense
degree of cold, they form, in the north of the Old and of the
New Continent, extensive forests, which, with those of the
Beech, appear to succeed the Spruce, the Larch, and the Pine,
and to precede the Chestnut and the Oak. Such, at least, seems
to be in America, between the 43d and 46th degrees of latitude,
the place assigned by nature to the true Sugar Maple.

The species of Maples hitherto described amount to fourteen,

of which seven belong to Europe and seven to North America.

Among these last I have not included the Dwarf Bed Maple,

Ace?' coccineum, which is a diminutive species, and concerning

which I do not possess adequate materials for a description. It

aljounds in Nova Scotia, and has always been confounded with

the proper Bed Maple; I have also observed it in the upper

parts of New Hampshire. It scarcely exceeds twelve or eighteen

feet in height, and its flowers and seeds are of a more vivid red

than those of the Bed Maple. The Black Sugar Maple grows

to about the same height with the Sugar Maple, but it is plainly

a distinct species. In the collection of dried plants made by

Captains Lewis and Clarke during their journey to the South
U2

MAPLES. 143

Sea, I saw specimens of a beautiful Maple from the bauks of
Columbia River.

From this brief summary it results that the North American
sjDecies are more numerous than those of Europe. The wood
of the Maples differs so widely in quality in different species,
that it becomes difficult to characterize it by general observa-
tions : it may be remarked, that it speedily ferments and decays
when exposed to the weather, that it is liable to be injured by
worms, and that hence it is unfit for building. It possesses pro-
perties, however, which compensate in part for these defects,
and which render it useful in the arts and in domestic economy.
For more particular information I must refer the reader to the
descriptions of the respective species.

[_Pro]jagaflon and culture. The Acerdcece prefer a free, deep,
loamy soil, rich rather than sterile, and neither wet nor very
dry. The situation that suits them best is one that is sheltered,
and shady rather than exposed. They are seldom found on the
north sides of lofty mountains, or on mountains at all, except
among other trees; but in the plains they are found by them-
selves. Though the species only attain perfection in favorable
soils and situations, they will spring up and live in any situation
whatever.

They are chiefly propagated from seeds; but some sorts are
increased by layers, cuttings of the shoots or roots, or by budding
or grafting. The seeds of most of the species ripen in Octolaer,
and may be gathered by hand, or shaken from the tree, when
the keys begin to turn brown. The maturity of the seed may
be proved by opening the key and observing if the cotyledons
are green, succulent, and fresh; if the green color is wanting,
tlie seeds are good for nothing. The seeds may be sown either
in autumn or in spring; the latter is preferable where moles
abound, as they are very fond of the seeds. Sown in spring,
they come up in five or six weeks, with the exception of Acer

144 M A r L E S.

campcsfre, which never grow till the second or third j-ear. The
seeds should not be covered with more than from a quarter to
half an inch of soil. The surface of the ground in which they
are sown may be advantageously shaded with leaves, fronds of
ilrs. or straw.

The Acei- argenfevm, or Silvery-leaved, and Acej- riihrum, or
Scarlet Maple, perfect their seeds in May ; and these should be
sown immediately after having been collected: they will vege-
tate directly, and produce fine plants the first season, if kejjt
free from weeds. The seeds of the former do not keeji well till
spring.]*

* [For a large additional list of Maples, see Nuttall's Supplement, vol. ii. p. 24
(t srq. Many of these are deserving of tlie attention of our planters; especially
the large-leaved Maple, sotaetimes ninety feet high, with leaves nearly a foot in
diameter, aifording an impervious and cou)plete shade. See also Emerson's " Trees
and Shrubs of Massachusetts," p. 481.]

METHODICAL DISPOSITION

MAPLES OF NOllTII AMERICA,

INCLUDING

TWO EUROPEAN SPECIES.

Polyandrki tUoecia, Linn. Acera, Juss.

First Section.
Sessile flowers. [Fructifli-ation vernal.)

1. White Maple Acer ej-iocarjmm.

2. Red-tlowering Maple .... Acer ruhrum.

Second Section.
Pedunculated flowers. [Fructification autumnal.)

3. Sugar Maple Acer saccharinum.

4. Black Sugar Maple .... Acer nigrum.

5. Norway Maple Acer plaianoides.

6. Sycamore Acer pseudo-platanus.

7. Moose Wood Acer striatum.

8. Box Elder Acer negundo.

9. Mountain Maple Acer montantum.

Vol. I.— 10 145

WHITE MAPLE.

Acer eriocarpum. A. foUis opposiiis, quinquelobis, profundi sinuatis,
incequalitcr denkdls, subtus candidissimis : jioribus pentandris, apetalis.

Acer dasycarpum. Ehrenberq.

In the Atlantic parts of tlie United States, tliis species is
often confounded Avith the Red Maple, which it nearly resem-
bles; west of the mountains, they are constantly distinguished,
and the Acer erlocarjjiun is known by no other name than White
Maple.

The banks of Sandy Eiver in the district of Maine, and those
of the Connecticut near Windsor in Vermont, are the most
northern points at Avhich I have seen the White Maple. But,
like many other vegetables, it is pinched by the rigorous win-
ters of this latitude, and never reaches the size which it attains
a few degrees farther south. It is found on the banks of all the
rivers which flow from the mountains to the ocean, though it is
less common along the streams which water the southern parts
of the Carolinas and of Georgia. In no part of the United
States is it more multiplied than in the Western country, and
nowhere is its vegetation more luxuriant than on the banks of
the Ohio and of the great rivers which empty into it. There,
sometimes alone, and sometimes mingled with the Willow,
which is found along all these waters, it contributes singularly
by its magnificent foliage to the embellishment of the scene.
The brilliant white of the leaves beneath forms a striking con-
trast with the bright green above; and the alternate reflection
of the two surfaces in the water heightens the beauty of this
wonderful moving mirror, and aids in forming an enchanting

picture, which, during my long excursions in a canoe in these
lt6

P14.C

^Ut'f (■/■i(\(irpti?/i

WHITE MAPLE. 147

regions of solitude and silence, I contemplated with unweai'ied
admiration. Beginning at Pittsburg, and even some miles above
the junction of the rivers Alleghany and Monongahela, White
Maples twelve or fifteen feet in circumference are continually
met with at short distances.

The trunk of this tree is low, and divides into a great number
of limbs, so divergent that they form a head more spacious than
that of any other tree with which I am acquainted. It is
worthy of remark, that the White Maple is found on the banks
of such rivers only as have limpid waters and a gravelly bed,
and never in swamps and other wet grounds enclosed in forests,
where the soil is black and miry. These situations, on the con-
trary, are so well adapted to the Red Maple that they are fre-
quently occupied by it exclusively. Hence the last-mentioned
species is common in the lower parts of the Carohnas and
of Georgia, where the White Maple is no longer seen; for as
soon as the rivers, in descending from the mountains toward
the ocean, reach the low country, they begin to be bordered
by miry swamps covered with the Cypress, Blackgum, Large
Tupelo, etc.

The White Maple blooms early in the spring : its flowers are
small and sessile, with a downy ovarium. The fruit is larger
than that of any other species which grows east of the Missis-
sippi. It consists of two capsules joined at the base, each of
which encloses one roundish seed, and is terminated by a large
membranaceous, falciform wing. In Pennsylvania, it is ripe
about the 1st of May, and a month earlier on the Savannah
River in Georgia. At this period, the leaves which have
attained half their size are very downy underneath ; a month
later, when fully grown, they are perfectly smooth. They are
opposite and supported by long petioles ; they are divided by
deep sinuses into four lobes, are toothed on the edges, of a
bright green on the upper surface, and of a beautiful white

148 WHITE MAPLE.

beneath. Tlic foliage, however, is scattered, and leaves an open
passage to the sunbeams.

The wood of this Maple is very white, and of a fine grain ;
but it is softer and lighter than that of the other species in the
United States, and, from its want of strength and durability, it
is little used. Wooden bowls are sometimes made of it when
Poplar cannot be procured. At Pittsburg, and in the neighbor-
ing towns, it serves in cabinet-making, instead of Holly, for
inlaying furniture of Mahogany, Cherry-tree, and Walnut:
though, as it soon changes color, it is less fitted for this purpose.
The hatters of Pittsburg prefer the charcoal of this wood to
every other for heating their boiler, as it affords a heat more
uniform and of longer continuance. Some of the inhabitants
on the Ohio make sugar of its sajD, by the same process Avhich
is employed with the Sugar Maple. Like the Ked Maple, it
yields but half the product from a given measure of sap ; but
the unrefined sugar is whiter and more agreeable to the taste
than that of the Sugar Maple. The sap is in motion earlier in
this species than in the Sugar Maple, beginning to ascend about
the 15th of January; so that the work of extracting the sugar
is sooner completed. The cellular tissue rapidly produces a
black precipitate with sulphate of iron.

In all parts of the United States where this tree abounds,
man}^ others are found of superior value. Its secondary con-
sequence is evinced by the unimportant uses to which it is
devoted.

In Europe, the White Maple is multiplied in nurseries and
gardens. Its rapid growth affords hopes of cultivating it with
profit in this quarter of the Avorld, which is less rich in the
diversity of its species. In forming plantations, more care than
has hitherto been taken should be paid to the choice of the
ground, which should be constantly moist, or exposed to annual
inundations : in such situations its vegetation would be sur
prising!}' beautiful and rapid.

%

Tied iloweiins- Maple ,

RED-FLOWERING MAPLE. 149

PLATE XL.

A branch with leans of the natural size. Fir/. 1. Barren flowers. Fig. 2.
Fertile flowers. Fig. 3. A seed of the natural size.

[For measurements of several "White Maples, see Emerson's
"Trees and Shrubs of Massachusetts," p. 489.]

RED-FLOWERING MAPLE.

Acer rubrum. A. foliis oppositis, trilobis, incequaliter dentatis, subtus
glaucis; florihus rubris, aggregaiis; germine glaberrimo; umbellis ses-
silibu^; capsulis rubris, pedunculatis.

Different names are given to this tree in different parts of
the United States : east of the Alleghany Mountains, it is called
Red-flowering Maple, Swamp Maple, and Soft Maple; in the
Western country, simply Maple. The first denomination,
which is most generally in use, is also most appropriate, as the
young shoots, the flowers, and the fruit are red.

Toward the North, the Red-flowering Maple appears first
about Malabaie in Canada, in latitude 48°; but it soon becomes
more common in proceeding southward, and is found abundant
to the extremities of Florida and Lower Louisiana. Of all the
trees which flourish in wet grounds occasionally overflowed,
this species is most multiplied in the Middle and Southern
States. It occupies, in great part, the borders of the creeks,
and abounds in all the swamps which are often inundated and
always miry. In these situations it is accompanied by the
Blackgum, Sweetgum, Shellbark Hickory, Swamp White Oak,
Black Ash, and White Ash. To these are added, in the Caro-
linas and Georgia, the small Magnolia or Swamp Bay, the

loO RED-FLOWERING M A R L E.

Water Oak, Loblolly Bay, Tupelo, and Red Bay. It is a
remarkable fact, that west of the mountaius, between Browns-
ville and Pittsburg, the Red-flowering Maple is seen growing on
elevated ground with the Oaks and the Walnuts. I have no-
where observed it of as ample dimensions as in Pennsylvania
and New Jersey : in these States exist extensive marshes,
called Maple swamps, exclusively covered with it, where it is
found seventy feet high and three or four feet in diameter.

The Red-flowering Maple is the earliest tree whose bloom
announces the return of spring; it is in flower near New York
from the 10th to the 15th of April. The blossoms, of a beau-
tifully-deep red, unfold more than a fortnight before the leaves.
They are sessile, aggregate, and situated at the extremity of the
branches. The fruit is suspended by long flexible peduncles,
and is of the same hue with the flowers, though it varies in size
and in the intensity of its coloring, according to the exposure
and dampness of the soil. The leaves are smaller than those
of the preceding species, but in some respects they resemble
them. They are glaucous or whitish underneath, and are pal-
mated or divided into three or four acuminate lobes, irregularly
toothed. The extremities of this tree, which are formed by
numerous twigs united at the base, have a remarkable appear-
ance when garnished with flowers and seeds of a deep red, before
vegetation has begun generally to revive.

Before the Red-flowering Maple exceeds twenty-five or thirty
feet in height and seven or eight inches in diameter, its bark is
perfectly smooth, and marked with white blotches, b}' which it
is easily distinguishable. Afterward, the trunk, like that of
the White Oak and Sweet Gum, becomes brown and chapped.
In this tree, as in others which gi'ow in wet places, the sap bears
a large proportion to the heart, if indeed the name of heart can
properly be given to the irregular star which occupies the centre
of large trunks, with points from one to three inches in length
projecting into the sap.

RED-FLOWERING MAPLE. 151

The wood of the Red-flowering Maple is aj^plicable to interest-
ing uses. It is harder than that of the White Maple, and of a
finer and closer grain : hence, it is easily wrought in the lathe,
and acquires by polishing a glossy and silken surface. It is
sufficiently solid, and for many purposes it is preferred by work-
men to other kinds of wood. It is principally employed for the
lower part of Windsor chairs: the pieces are turned in the
country, and so considerable is the demand, that boats laden
with them arrive at New York and Philadelphia, where an ex-
tensive manufacture is carried on for the consumption of the
neighboring towns, and for exportation to the Southern States
and to the West India Islands. The whole frame of japanned
chairs is of this wood, except the back, for which Hickory is
chosen on account of its superior strength and elasticity. The
frame, the nave, and the spokes of spinning-wheels are made of
it: at Philadelphia it is exclusively employed for saddletrees,
and in the country it is preferred for yokes, and also for shovels
and wooden dishes, which are brought to market and purchased
by the dealere in wooden ware.

It sometimes happens that, in very old trees, the grain, instead
of following a perpendicular direction, is undulated, and this
variety bears the name of Curled Maple. This singular arrange-
ment, of which I am able to assign no cause, is never witnessed
in young trees nor in the branches of such as exhibit it in the
trunk; it is also less conspicuous at the centre than near the
circumference. Trees ofieiing this disposition are rare, and do
not exist in the proportion of one to a hundred. The serpentine
direction of the fibre, which renders them difficult to split and
to work, produces, in the hands of a skilful mechanic, the most
beautiful effects of light and shade. These effects are rendered
more striking if, after smoothing the surface of the wood with a
double-ironed plane, it is rubbed with a little sulphuric acid and
afterward anointed with linseed-oil. On examining it atten-
tively, the varying shades are found to be owing entirely to the

152 RED-FLOWERING MAPLE.

infection of the rays of liglit, which is more sensibly perceived
in viewing it in different directions by caudle-light.

Before Mahogany became generally fashionable in the United
States, the most beautiful furniture was of Red-flowering Maple,
and bedsteads are still made of it, which, in richness of lustre,
exceed the finest Mahogany. At Boston some cabinet-makers
saw it into thin plates for inlaying Mahogany. But the most
constant use of the Curled Maple is for the stocks of fowling-
pieces and rifles, which to elegance and lightness unite a sohdity
resulting from the accidental direction of the fibre.

The cellular tissue of the Red-flowering Maple is of a dusky
red. By boiling, it yields a purplish color, which, on the addi-
tion of sulphate of iron, l^ecomes dark blue, approaching to
black. It is used in the country, with a certain portion of alum
in solution, for dyeing black.

The wood of the Red-flowering Maple does not burn well, and
is so little esteemed for fuel that it is rarely brought into the
cities.

The French Canadians make sugar from the saj) of this
Maple, which they call Plaine; but, as in the preceding species,
the product of a given measure is only half as great as is
obtained from the Sugar Maple.

It should be observed that the Red-flowering Maple never
attains its full dimensions except in swamps where the bottom is
composed of fertile soil. When the population of the country
becomes denser, these tracts will be cleared and improved by
eome mode of culture more profitable than the growth of woods,
and especially of this sj^ecies, which is fit neither for the uses
of the wheelwright nor for anj- other solid work; for it possesses
little stx'ength, is liable to injury from worms, and ferments and
speedily decays when exposed to the alternations of dryness and
moisture. Though at present it is extensively used, its import-
ance in the arts is not such as to entitle it to preservation, and
it will doubtless one day become rare. When the period arrives

U.J Jle,fml, Jr/

Siio-ar Al.'iplc.

SUGAR MAPLE. 153

that it is necessary in the United States, as in Europe, to renew
the forests, or to jjreserve those which have escaped destruction,
the American forester will find among the Oaks, the Walnuts,
and the Ashes, many species more deserving of his care. The
Sugar Maple also will be preferred, which grows on uplands, and
possesses in a superior degree all the good properties of the
other. From these considerations, the Red-flowering Maple ap-
pears to have no pretensions to a place in European forests.*

PLATE XLI.

A branch v:ith leaves of the natural size. Fig. 1. Barren flowers. Fig. 2.
Fertile floicers. Fig. 3. Seeds of the natural size.

SUGAR MAPLE.

Acer sacchaeixum. A. foliis quinque j)artito-]}ahnatis, glabris, margine
integris, suhtus glaucis ; floribus pcdunculatis, fendentibus.

This species, the most interesting of the American Maples, is
called Rock Maple, Hard Maple, and Sugar Maple. The first
of these names is most generally in use; but I have preserved
the last, because it indicates one of the most valuable j^roperties
of the tree.

According to my fother's researches into the topography of
American vegetables, the Sugar Maj^le begins a little north of
Lake St. John in Canada, near the 48th degree of latitude,
which, in the rigor of its winter, corresponds to the 68th degree

* [See Emerson's "Trees and Shrubs of Massachusetts" for some addltionol

particulars, and for remarks on the autumnal color of leaves, in which it is asserted

that frost has very little influence on them.]
I.— 10*

1.-4 SUGAR MAPLE.

in Europe. It is nowhere more abundant than between the
4Gth and 43d degrees, which comjjrise Canada, New Brunswick,
Nova Scotia, the States of Vermont and New Hampshire, and
the district of Maine; in these regions it enters largely into the
composition of the forests with which they are still covered.
Farther south, it is common only in Genesee in the State of
New York, and in the upper parts of Pennsylvania. It is esti-
mated by Dr. Rush, that, in the northern parts of these two
States, there are ten million of acres which produce these trees
in the proportion of thirty to an acre. Indeed, I have noticed,
in traversing these districts, large masses of woods formed of
them almost exclusively. In Genesee, however, a great part of
the Maples belong to a species which I shall describe, which has
hitherto been confounded by botanists with the Sugar Maple.

In the lower parts of Virginia, of the Carolinas, and of
Georgia, and likewise in the Mississippi Territory, this tree is
unknown or very rare. It is rapidly disappearing from the
forests about New York and Philadelphia, where it is no longer
drained for sugar, but is felled for fuel and other purposes.

Between the parallels mentioned as bounding the tracts where
this tree is most abundant, the forests do not resemble those of
a more southern latitude: they are composed of two different
descriptions of trees divided into two great classes, which alter-
nately occupy the soil, and which exist in nearly equal propor-
tions. The first class comprises the resinous trees, such as Pines
and Spruces, and covers the low grounds and the bottoms of the
vallej^s; these foi-ests are called Blach-wood lands. The second
class consists of leafy trees, such as the Sugar Maple, the White
and the Bed Beech, the Birches and the Ashes, of which the
Sugar Maple is most multijjlied. They grow on level grounds
or on gentle declivities, and form what are denominated Hard-
v:ood lands. In proceeding from the 46th degree of latitude
northward, the trees of the second class are observed to become
more rare, and the resinous trees in the same proportion more

S U G A R M A r L E. 155

abundant: below the 43d degree, on the other hand, the resinous
trees are found less common, and the others lose their predo-
minance in the forests, as they become mingled with the nume-
rous species of Oaks and Walnuts.

The Sugar Maple covers a greater extent of the American
soil than any other species of this genus. It flourishes most in
mountainous places, where the soil, though fertile, is cold and
humid. Besides the parts which I have particularly mentioned,
where the face of the country is generally of this nature, it is
found along the whole chain of the Alleghanies to their terminar
tion in Georgia, and on the steep and shady banks of the rivers
which rise in these mountains.

The Sugar Maple reaches the height of seventy or eighty feet,
with a proportional diameter; but it does not commonly exceed
fifty or sixty feet, with a diameter of twelve or eighteen inches.
Well-grown, thriving trees are beautiful in their appearance, and
easily distinguishable by the whiteness of their bark. The
leaves are about five inches broad; but they vary in length
according to the age and vigor of the tree. They are opiDOsite,
attached by long petioles, palmated and unequally divided into
five lobes, entire at the edges, of a hright green above and
glaucous or whitish underneath. In autumn, they turn reddish
with the first frosts. Except in the color of the lower surface,
they nearly resemble the Norway Maple. The flowers are
small, yellowish, and suspended by slender, drooping peduncles.
The seed is contained in two capsules united at the base and
terminated by a membranous wing. It is ripe near New York
in the beginning of October, though the capsules attain their
full size six weeks earlier. Extern all}^ they appear equally
perfect, but I have constantly found one of them empty. The
fruit is matured only once in two or three years.

The wood, when cut, is white; but, after being wrought and
exposed for some time to the light, it takes a rosy tinge. Its
grain is fine and close, and when polished it has a silken lustre.

156 S r G A R M A P L E.

It is veiy strong and sufficiently heavy, but "svants tlie property
of durabilit}^, for which the Chestnut and the Oak are so highly
esteemed. When exposed to moisture it soon decays, and for
this reason it is neglected in civil and naval architecture. In
Vermont, New Hampshire, the district of Maine, and forthcr
north, where the Oak is not plentiful, this timber is substituted
for it in preference to the Beech, the Birch, and the Elm.
When perfectly seasoned, (which requires two or three years.)
it is used by wheelwrights for axle-trees and spokes, and for
lining the runners of common sleds. It is also employed, as
well as the Eed-flowering Maple, in the manufocture of Windsor
chairs. In the country, where the houses are wholly of wood,
Sugar Maple timber is admitted into the frame ; and in the dis-
trict of Maine it is preferred to the Beech for the keels of vessels,
as it furnishes longer pieces : with the Beech and the Yellow Pine,
it forms also the lower frame, which is always in the water.

This wood exhibits two accidental forms in the arrangement
of the fibre, of which cabinet-makers take advantage for obtain-
ing beautiful articles of furniture. The first consists in undu-
lations like those of the Curled Maple ; the second, which takes
place in old trees which are still sound, and which appears to
arise from an inflexion of the fibre from the circumference
toward the centre, produces spots of half a line in diameter,
sometimes contiguous, and sometimes several lines apart. The
more numerous the spots, the more beautiful and the more
esteemed is the wood: this variety is called Bird's-eye Maple.
Like the Curled Maple, it is used for inlaying Mahogany. Bed-
steads are made of it, and portable writing-desks, which are
elegant and highly prized. To obtain the finest effect, the log
should be sawn in a direction as nearly as possible parallel to
the concentric circles.

When cut at the proper season, the Sugar Maple forms excel-
lent fuel. It is exported from the district of Maine for the
consumption of Boston, and is equally esteemed with the

SUGAR MAPLE. 157

Hickory. The opinion entertained of it in this respect, in the
north of America, accords with the interesting experiments of
Mr. Hartig on the comparative heat afforded by different species
of European wood, from which it results that the Sycamore
(^Acer pseudo-platanus) is superior to ever}' other.

The ashes of the Sugar Maple ai'e rich in the alkaline prin-
ciple ; and it may be confidently asserted that they furnish four-
fifths of the potash exported to Europe from Boston and New
York.

In the forges of Vermont and the district of Maine, the
charcoal of this wood is preferred to any other, and it is said to
be one-fifth heavier than the coal made from the same species
in the Middle and Southern States, — a fact which sufficiently
evinces that this Maple acquires its characteristic properties in
perfection only in northern climates.

The wood of the Sugar Maple is easily distinguished from that
of the Red-flowering Maple, which it resembles in appearance,
by its weight and hardness. Thei'e is, besides, a very simple
and certain test : a few drops of sulphate of iron being poured
on samjDles of the diflFerent species, the Sugar Maple turns
greenish, and the White Maple and Red-flowering Maple change
to a deep blue.

The extraction of Sugar from the Maple is a valuahle resource
in a country where all classes of society make daily use of tea
and coffee.

The process by which it is obtained is very simple, and is
everywhere nearly the same. Though not essentially defective,
it might be improved and made more profital)le by adopting
hints which have been thro\\Ti out in American publications.

The work is commonly taken in hand in the month of Feb-
ruary, or in the beginning of March, while the cold continues

l.:8 SUGAR M A r L E.

intense and the ground is still covered with snow. The sap
begins to be in motion at this season, two months befoi'e the
general revival of vegetation. In a central situation, lying
convenient to the trees from which the sap is drawn, a shed is
constructed, called a sugar-camp, which is destined to shelter
the boilers, and the persons who tend them, from the weather.
An auger three-quarters of an inch in diameter, small troughs
to receive the sap, tubes of Elder or Sumac, eight or ten inches
long, corresponding in size to the auger and laid open for a part
of their length, buckets for emptying the troughs and conveying
the sap to the camp, boilers of fifteen or eighteen gallons' capa-
city, moulds to receive the syrup when reduced to a proper
consistency for being formed into cakes, and, lastl}', axes to cut
and split the fuel, are the principal utensils employed in the
ojioratiou.

The trees are perforated in an obliquely-ascending direction,
eighteen or twenty inches from the ground, with two holes four
or five inches apart. Care should be taken that the augers do
not enter more than half an inch within the wood, as exjoerienco
has shown the most abundant flow of sap to take place at this
depth. It is also recommended to insert the tubes on the south
side of the tree ; but this useful hint is not alwa^'s attended to.

The troughs, which contain two or three gallons, are made,
in the Northern States, of White Pine, of White or Black Oak,
or of JMaple ; on the Ohio, the Mulberry, which is vor}' abun-
dant, is preferred. The Chestnut, the Black Walnut, and the
Butternut should be rejected, as they impart to the liquid the
coloring-matter and bitter principle with which they are im-
pregnated.

A trough is jalaced on the ground at the foot of each tree,
and the sap is every day collected and temporarily^ poured into
casks, from which it is drawn out to fill the boilers. The eva-
poration is kept up by a brisk fire, and the scum is carefully
taken off during this part of the process. Fresh sap is added

SUGAR MAPLE. 159

from time to time, and the he.it is maintained till the liquid is
reduced to a syrup, after which it is left to cool, and then
strained through a blanket or other woollen stufl', to separate
the remaining impurities.

Some persons recommend leaving the syrup twelve hours
before boiling it for the last time ; others proceed with it imme-
diately. In either case, the boilers are only half filled, and, by
an active, steady heat, the liquor is rapidly reduced to the
proper consistency for being poured into the moulds. The eva-
poration is known to have proceeded far enough when, upon
rubbing a drop of the syrup between the fingers, it is perceived
to be granular. If it is in danger of boiling over, a bit of lard
or of butter is thrown into it, which instantly calms the ebulli-
tion. The molasses being drained off from the moulds, the
sugar is no longer deliquescent, like the raw sugar of the West
Indies.

Maple Sugar manufactured in this way is light-colored in pro-
portion to the care with which it is made and the judgment
with which the evaporation is conducted. It is superior to the
brown sugar of the Colonies, — at least, to such as is generally
used in the United States ; its taste is as pleasant, and it is as
good for culinary purposes. When refined, it equals in beauty
the finest sugar consumed in Europe. It is made use of, how-
ever, only in the districts where it is made, and there only in
the country : from prejudice or taste, imported sugar is used iu
all the small towns and in the inns.

The sap continues to flow for six weeks, after which it be-
comes less abundant, less rich in saccharine matter, and some-
times even incapable of crystallization. In this case, it is
consumed in the state of molasses, which is superior to that
of the Islands. After three or four days' exposure to the
sun, Maple sap is converted into vinegar by the acetous fer-
mentation.

In a periodical work published at Philadelphia several years

KJO S U G A R M A P L E.

since, the following receipt is given for making Sugar Maple
beer : — Upon four gallons of boiling water pour one quart of
Maple molasses ; add a little yeast or leaven to excite the fer-
mentation, and a spoonful of the essence of spruce ; a very plea-
sant and salutary drink is thus obtained.

The process which I have described for extracting the sugar
is the most common one, and it is the same from whatever spe-
cies of Maple the sugar is made.

The amount of sugar manuflictured in a year varies from dif-
ferent causes. A cold and drj- winter renders the trees more
productive than a changeable and humid season. It is observed
that, when a frosty night is followed b}' a bright and brilliant
da}-, the sap flows abundantly ; and two or three gallons are
sometimes yielded by a single tree in twenty-four hours. Three
persons are found sufficient to tend 250 trees, which give 1000
pounds of sugar, or four pounds from each tree. But this pro-
duct is not uniform ; for many farmers on the Ohio have assured
me that they did not commonly obtain more than two pounds
from a tree.

Trees which grow in low and moist places afford a greater
quantity of sap than those which occupy rising grounds, but it
is less rich in the saccharine principle. That of insulated trees,
left standing in the middle of fields or by the side of fences, is
the best. It is also remarked that in districts which have been
cleared of other trees, and even of the less vigorous Sugar
Maple, the product of the remainder is, proportionally, most
considerable.

While I resided in Pittsburg, the following curious particulars
appeared in the Greensburg Gazette : — " Having introduced,"
says the writer, " twenty tubes into a Sugar Maple, I drew from
it the same day twenty-three gallons and three quarts of sap,
which gave seven and a quarter pounds of sugar : thirty-three
pounds have been made this season from the same tree ; which
supposes one hundred gallons of sap." It aj^pears here that

SUGAR MAPLE. 161

only a little more than three gallons was required for a pound,
though four are commonly allowed.

In the foregoing experiments, five quarts were drawn in one
day from each tube, which is about equal to the quantity dis-
charged when two pipes are employed. Might it not hence be
concluded that the sap escapes only from the orifices of the
vessels which have been divided by the auger, without being
diverted to this issue from the neighboring parts? I am the
more inclined to this opinion, as, in rambling one day in the
profound solitude of the forests on the banks of the Ohio, the
idea suggested itself to me of cutting into a Maple which had
been bored the preceding year. I found, amid the white mass
of its wood, a green column, equal in width and in depth to the
hole beneath. The organization appeared not to be affected;
but this is not sufficient to warrant the conclusion that these
vessels would be in condition to give passage to the sap the suc-
ceeding year. It may be objected that trees have been drained
for thirty years, without diminution of their produce. But a
tree of two or three feet in diameter presents an extensive sur-
face, and the tuljes are every year shifted ; besides, the succes-
sive layers of thirty or forty years would restore it nearly to
the state of one that never had been perforated.

In the United States, Maple sugar is made in the greatest
quantities in the upper part of New Hampshire, in Vermont,
in the State of New York, particularly in Genesee, and in the
counties of Pennsylvania which lie on the eastern and Avestern
l)ranches of the Susquehanna; west of the mountains, in the
country bordering on the rivers Alleghany, Monongahela, and
Ohio. The farmers, after reserving a sufficient store for their
own consumption, sell the residue to the shopkeepers in the
small towns of the neighborhood at eight cents a ^wund, by
whom it is retailed at eleven cents. A great deal of sugar is
also made in Upper Canada, on the Wabash, and near Michili-
mackinac. The Indians dispose of it to the commissioners of

Vol. I.— 11

1(32 SUGAR MAPLE.

the Nortliwestem Company establislied at Montreal, for the
use of the numerous agents who go out in their employ, in quest
of furs, beyond Lake Superior. In Nova Scotia and the dis-
trict of Maine, and on the highest mountains of Virginia and
the Carolinas, where these trees are suflficientlj^ common, the
manufacture is less considerable, and probably six-sevenths of
the inhabitants consume imported sugar.

It has been stated, and doubtless correctly, that the northern
jjarts of New York and Pennsylvania contain Maples euough to
sa^^ply the whole consumption of the United States. But the
annual produce by no means answers to this j^atriotic calcula-
tion. The trees grow upon excellent lauds, which, b}' the influx
of emigrants from the older settlements, and by the surprising
increase of the population already established, are rapidly clear-
ing; so that in less, perhaps, than half a century, the Majjles
will be confined to exposures too steep for cultivation, and will
afford no resource, except to the proprietor on whose domain
they grow. At this period, also, the wood will jorobably pro-
duce a greater and more ready profit than the sugar. It has
been proposed to plant Sugar Maples in orchards or about the
fields; but would it not be more certainly advantageous to
multiply the Apple-tree, which grows in soils too dry to sustain
the vegetation of the Maple? All that has been said on this
sulyect must be considered as speculative merely, since, in the
Eastern States, where information is generally diffused, no en-
terprises of this nature have been undertaken by Avhich the
importation of sugar might be diminished.

Wild and domestic animals are inordinately fond of Maple
juice, and break into enclosures to sate themselves with it.

The details into which I have entered concerning the Sugar
Maple furnish the means of estimating its importance with
reference both to its sap and to its wood. I have indicated the
regions where it grows and the soil in which it thrives; and I
feel authorized in seriously I'ecommending it for propagation in

Biacl-; Sii£)-aT Majile

^^,.v^.

BLACK SUGAR-TREE. 163

the north of Europe. Its sap and its -wood are superior to those
of the Norway Maple and of the Sycamore, and, in the same
countries where these two species abound in the forests, its
success would be most complete, and its cultivation more pro-
fitable.

PLATE XLIL

A branch ivith leaves and seeds of the imtiircd size. Fig. 1. A small iwig
with flowers.

[For later and distinct remarks on the product of this tree,
see Emerson's "Trees and Shrubs of Massachusetts," p. 489.
Count Wingersky is said to have planted a great many of
these trees on his estates in Moravia, and to have made very
good sugar from their sap when they had attained the age of
twenty-five years. But, in consequence of drawing sap every
year, the trees became sickly, and soon died.]

BLACK SUGAR-TREE.

Acer nigrtjm. A. foliis quinque-partito-palmatis, sinubis apertis, margine
'Integra, subtiis pubescenicbus, atroviridibas ; floribus corymbosis ; capsulis
iargide subglobosis.

In the Western States, and in the parts of Pennsylvania and
Virginia which lie between the mountains and the Ohio, this
species of Maple is designated by the name of Sugar-tree, and
frequently by the more characteristic denomination of Black
Sugar-tree : probably on account of the dark color of its leaves
in comparison with those of the true Sugar Maple, which some-
times grows with it. In the extensive country of Genesee, both

164 BLACK SUGAR-TREE.

species are indiscriminately called Eock Maple and Sugar
Maple. This confusion seems to have arisen from the country's
being settled principally by emigrants from the Eastern States,
who, finding the Black Sugar-tree applicable to the same uses
with the other, and equally productive of Sugar, have given it
the same name. The two species have also been confounded by
botanists, in describing the vegetable productions of America.

Toward the north, I first observed the Black Sugar-tree near
Windsor in Vermont, oil the Connecticut Eiver. But, from its
inferior size and its scarceness, it may be inferred that it belongs
to a more southern climate. Accordingly, a few degrees lower,
it forms a large part of the forests of Genesee, and covers the
immense valleys through which flow the great rivers of the
West. In these bottoms it is one of the most common and one
of the loftiest trees.

The leaves are four or five inches long, and exhibit, in every
respect, nearly the same conformation as those of the true Sugar
Maple. They difier from them, principally, in being of a deeper
green and a thicker texture, and in having more open sinuses :
they are also slightly downy, which is most sensibly perceptible
on the main rib.

The flowers, like those of the Sugar Maple, are suspended by
long, flexible peduncles : the seeds, also, are similar, and are
ripe about the same time; that is, about the 1st of October.

The wood is much like that of the other species, but it is
coarser-grained and less brilliant when polished. It is little
used, because, wherever it abounds, other trees are found, such
as the Oak, the Walnut, the Cherry-tree, and the Mulberry,
which are more esteemed for building and for cabinet-making.
It is, however, preferred for the frames of Windsor chairs, and
is considered, after the Hickories, as the best fuel. Its most
important use is for making sugar, of which it annually yields
a vast amount in the neighborhood of Pittsburg.

When the Black Sugar-tree stands alone, it naturally assumes

PI ^+ .

NORWAY MAPLE. 165

a regular and agreeable shape. Its foliage, of a darker tint and
more tufted than that of the other Maples, renders it proper for
forming avenues and for adorning parks and gardens ; in short,
for every situation where thick shade is desired, as a shelter
from the sun.

PLATE XLIII.

A branch wilh a leaf and seeds of the natural size.

NORWAY MAPLE.

Acer platanoides. A. foliis quinqne-lobis, acuminatis, uirinquc glahris,
lobis dentatis ; cori/mbis ercclis, jicduncuUs glabrls.

This species of Maple is found in the same parts of Europe
with the Sycamore, but it is most multiplied in Sweden and
Norway, whence it has received the name of Norway Maple.

Like the Sycamore, it attains a lofty height and a diameter
of several feet, and ranks among the largest trees of the north
of Europe. Its leaves are broad, of a fine texture, and of a
light green color; in shape they resemble those of the Black
Sugar-tree and the Sugar Maple. They are not whitish under-
neath like those of the Sugar Maple, and when the petiole is
broken a milky fluid distils from it, which does not take place
in the American species.

The flowers of the Norway Maple are small, yellowish, and
suspended by pretty long peduncles. The seeds grow in two
capsules, which are united at the base, compressed, and gar-
nished with large, divergent, membranous wings. They are
ripe in the month of September.

In the winter, when the Norway Maple and the Sycamore

IGG NORWAY xM A P L E.

are stripped of tlicir leaves, tliej may still be distinguished by
their buds. On the Sjxamore, the last year's shoots are larger
than on the Norway Maple, and the buds are of a yellowish
color, while those of the other species are of a reddish com-
l^lexion, and are united in groups of three. On the two species
of American Sugar Maple, the shoots are still more tapering
and slender, and the buds are nearly black.

The wood of the Norway Maple is very white and \ery fine-
grained : it is easily wrought, and is employed for nearly the
same purposes with that of the Sycamore. Among cabinet-
makers in Germany, such trees are in request as present agree-
able accidental variations in the direction of the fibre, similar to
the Curled Maple and the Bird's-eye Maple.

The rapid and beautiful vegetation of the Norway Maple in
soils inferior to such as are required by the Sj'camore causes it
to be extensive!}' planted in Europe for the embellishment of
gardens ; for which purpose trees are preferred that develop
their foliage early and shed it late, and that aflbrd through the
intemperate season a refreshing shade ; all which advantages
are united in the Norway Maple.

PLATE XLIV.

Fig. 1. A leaf of half the natural size. A seed of the natural size.

[This is unquestionably one of the best ornamental trees ; its
beautifully-formed, round head, and the great density of its
shade, should give it a pi-eference over most of the Maples for
the landscape-gardener. Scarcely too much can be said in its
praise.]

SYCAMORE TREE.

Acer pseudo-platanus. A. foliis quinque lobis, inccqualiter dcntatis sub-
tus glaucescentihus ; floribus subspicatis, penduUs.

This beautiful tree is diffused over all the centre of Europe,
and abounds especially in Bohemia, Hungary, and Poland. It
thrives most luxuriantly in moist and fertile soils, and when
expanded to its full dimensions it is sixty or seventy feet in
height and two or three feet in diameter. Its head is spacious,
and its foliage thick. On old ti'ees, the bark of the trunk is
deeply furrowed ; on such as are less than six inches in dia-
meter, it is perfectly smooth. The leaves of the Sycamore are
opposite, with long petioles, large, and distinctly divided into
five unequal lobes ; they are of a dark green above and whitish
underneath. In the heat of midsummer they are covered with
a very sweet viscid substance, which is gathered with avidity by
bees. The flowers appear toward the end of April : they are
small, greenish, and grouped into pendulous clusters from three
to four inches in length. The seed is in capsules about an inch
in length, united at the base and terminated by a membranous
wing.

When the Sycamore is fully grown, its wood is fine-grained
and susceptil^le of a brilliant polish. In those parts of Europe
where it is most common, it is in demand with turners for
making wooden ware. It is used for making violins, and, when
its grain is undulated, for ornamenting forte-pianos. By the in-
teresting experiments of Mr. Hartig, Grand Master of the forests
of Prussia, on the comparative value of diiferent species of wood
as combustibles, the Sycamore was found to afford more heat
than any other wood of the north of Europe.

Sugar has been made from the Sycamore in Bohemia and

Hungary. Though the attempt has completely succeeded, it

167

168 S Y C A M 0 R E T R E E.

appears certain that the sugar is yielded in a smaller proportion
than by the Sugar Maple.

In France and England, the Sj'camore is a rare tree in the
forests, but it is multiplied in pleasure-grounds, on account of
its rapid growth, the early development of its foliage in the
spring, and the fine shade Avhich it affords through the summer.

It has been observed in England that the foliage of this tree
is less injured than that of others by the saline vapors wafted
from the sea ; hence it is chosen for situations exposed to these
winds. The justness of the observation I have never had an
opportunity of examining.

The Sycamore appears to me to possess no one superior pro-
perty which entitles it to preference in the United States over
the Sugar Maple and the Black Sugar-tree.

TLATE XLIV.

Fig. 2. A leaf of half the natural size. A seed of the natural size.

[Its growth is verj^ rapid, particularly when it is in a deep,
free, rich soil, and in a mild climate. It arrives at full growth
in fifty or sixty years. In marshy soil, or dry sand, the tree
never attains a great size.

" There is a very interesting tree of this species standing at
the entrance of the village of Trons, in the Grisons, the cradle
of liberty in the Ehoetian Alps. Under the once spreading
branches of this now hollow and cloven trunk, the Gray League
was solemnly ratified in 1424. Upon the supposition that it
was only a century old when the meeting, to which its celebrity
is owing, took place, and a jounger tree would hardly have been
selected for the purpose, it has now attained the age of five
hundred and twenty years, and ma}' be much older." Dr. Gray,
la N. American Rev., July, 1844.]

Pi. 4-.

^loose Wood.

To/j .■:■„//■

MOOSE WOOD.

AcEP. STRIATUM. A. folHs infemh rotundads, mpcrnh acuminato-tricuS'
jitdibus, argute serratis; racemis simplicibus, pendentibus.

A. demisj-lvauicum. LiNN.

In the Province of Nova Scotia and New Brunswick, in the
district of Maine, and in the States of Vermont and New Hamp-
shire, this Maple is known only by the name of Moose Wood :
in New Jersey and Pennsylvania it is called Striped Maple.
This last denomination, which is preferable as being descriptive,
I have thought proper to reject, because it is in use only in a
part of the United States where the tree is rare, and is wholly
unknown in those parts in which it abounds. The name of
Moose Wood was given it by the iirst settlers from observing
that the moose — an animal now rare in this region — subsisted
during the latter part of winter and the beginning of spring
ujjon its young twigs.

This tree makes its first appearance near Lake St. John in
the 47th degi-ee of latitude, that is to say, a little farther north
than the preceding species. In Nova Scotia and the district of
Maine, where I have most particularly observed it, it fills the
forests. Toward the Hudson it becomes more rare, and beyond
this boundary is confined to the mountainous tracts of the Alle-
ghanies, on which it is found in cold and shaded exposures, along
the whole range to its termination in Georgia.

In the district of Maine I have always found the Moose Wood

most vigorous in mixed forests, or what are called Mixture lands;

where the woods are composed of the Sugar Maple, the Beech,

the White Birch, the Yellow Birch, and the Hemlock Spruce.

In these forests it constitutes a great part of the undergrowth ;
i.-ii* 169

170 MOOSE WOOD.

for its ordinary lieiglit is less than ten feet, though I have found
individual trees of more than twice this stature.

The trunk and branches of the Moose "Wood are clad in a
smooth gTeen bark, longitudinally marked with black stripes,
by which it is easily distinguishable at all seasons of the year.

This is one of the earliest trees of North America Avhose
vegetation announces the approach of tlie genial season. Its
buds and leaves, when beginning to unfold, are rose-colored, and
have a jileasing effect; but this hue soon changes to green. On
luxuriant trees, the leaves are of a pretty thick texture, and
finely serrate. They ai'e four or five inches broad, rounded at
the base, and divided into three deep acute lobes. The flowers
are of a greenish cast, and grouped on long, pendulous peduncles.
The fruit, which in the main resembles that of the other
Maples, is remarkable for a small cavity on one side of the
capsules : it is produced in abundance, and is ripe about the
end of September.

The inferior size of the Moose Wood forbids its use in any
kind of carpentry; but, as it is white and fine-grained, the
cabinet-makers of Halifax employ it instead of the Holly, wiiich
does not grow in so northern a climate, for forming the white
lines with which they inlay Mahogany. Its principal advantage
consists in furnishing the inhabitants at the close of winter,
when their forage is exhausted, a resource for sustaining their
cattle till the advancing season has renewed the herbage. As
soon as the buds begin to swell, the famished horses and neat
cattle are turned loose into the woods, to browse on the young
shoots, which they crop with avidit3^ Poor as this resource
may appear, it is not wholly inadequate, since the twigs are
tender and full of saccharine juice. A similar practice prevails
also in the new settlements of the West.

Tins species of Maple has been long cultivated in Europe, in
parks and extensive gardens. It is in request as one of tlie
earliest trees to feel the approach of spring, but more particu-

MOOSE WOOD. 171

larly on account of the pleasing effect of the white veins Avhich
variegate its trunk. In the primitive forests, where it grows
beneath a canopy of impervious shade, these veins are bhick :
the change of color seems owing to its being planted in drier
soils more open to the sun. Most of the ti'ees of this species
which now grow in Euro^^e have been grafted on the lofty
Sycamore, whose vigor is felt by the Moose Wood, and expands
it to four times its natural dimensions.

PLATE XLV.

A branch irifh frnit of the vnturnl size. Fig. 1. Barl; of a tree in the
forests of North America. Fig. 2. Bark of a tree cultivated on drg and
open ground.

[From the great beauty of its bark, this tree deserves a place
in every collection. The delicate rose-color of the buds and
leaves on opening, and the elegance of the ample foliage after-
ward, the graceful, pendulous racemes of flowers succeeded Ijy
large, showy keys, not unlike a cluster of insects, will als(j
recommend it.]

BOX ELDER,

ASH-LEAYED MAPLE.

Acer negundo. A. foliis innnatls ternaUsve,m(equal'der serraiis; jlorihns

dioicis.

In the countiy west of the Alleghanies, where this tree is
common, it is called Box Elder; east of the mountains it is
more rare, and, having been less attentively ol)served, it has
received no specific name. Some persons, however, distinguish
it by that of Ash-leaved Maple, which is a perfectly appropriate
denomination. I have chosen the other, though absolutel}^ insig-
nificant of any characteristic property of the tree, because it is
sanctioned b}' general use. The French of Illinois call it EraUe
a Gujuieres.

The leaves of the Box Elder are opposite, and are from six
to fifteen inches long, according to the vigor of the tree and the
moisture of the soil in which it grows. Each leaf is composed
of two pair of leaflets with an odd one. The leaves are petio-
lated and oval-acuminate, and sharply toothed; toward fall, the
common petiole is of a deep red. The male and female flowers
are borne on different trees, and are supported by slender,
pendulous peduncles, six or seven inches in length.

Of all the Maples of the United States, this species ventures
least into northern latitudes, for in the Atlantic States it is first
seen on the banks of the Delaware, in the neighborhood of
Philadelphia, and even there it is rare. In the maritime parts
of the Southern States, also, it is far from being a common tree ;
which is less attributable to the heat of the summer than the
marshy nature of the soil on the borders of the rivers. West

of the mountains, on the contrar)-, it is extremely multiplied,

172

/•/^o.

Box Klfler.

BOX ELDER, OR ASII-LEAVED MAPLE. 173

and, instead of being confined, as in tlie upper parts of Virginia
and of the Carolinas, to the river-sides, it grows in the woods,
with the Locust, Wild Cherry, and Coflfee-tree. But in the bot-
toms which skirt the rivers, where the soil is deep, fertile, con-
stantly moist, and often inundated, this tree is most abundant
and most fully expanded. Even here it can be considered only
as a tree of secondary size : the largest Box Elders that I have
seen were not more than fifty feet in height and twenty inches
in diameter, and trees of these dimensions are found only in
Tennessee and in the back parts of Georgia, which lie far to the
south. In Kentucky, they ai'e of only half this height. Though
growing in thick forests, the Box Elder expands into a head like
that of the Apple-tree. I have remarked this form particularly
on the banks of the Ohio, where I have also observed that the
trunk bulges into knots at unequal distances, and is often
decayed at the heart. A fine row of Box Elders in the botanical
garden of Paris, along the Bae de Biiffon, aflbrds a sufficiently
just idea of their appearance in the forests on the rivers Monon-
galiela and Ohio. It may be concluded, from what has been
said, that, to obtain its full proportions, this tree requires a cli-
mate three or four degrees milder than that of Philadelphia,
Pittsburg, and Paris.

The Box Elder branches at a small height. The bark of its
trunk is brown, and I have i-emarked a disagreeable odor in the
cellular tissue. The proportion of the sap to the heart is large,
except in very old trees: in these the heart is variegated witli
rose-colored and bluish veins. Some cabinet-makers in the
Western country employ it to ornament furniture made of
Maliogany or Wild Cherry-tree. The wood is of a fine and
close grain, and is said to split with difficulty; but, as it soon
decays when exposed to the air, it is little used. It has been
erroneously asserted that sugar is made from the sap of this
species.

More than fifty years since, the Box Elder was introduced

174 BOX ELDER, OR AS IT-LEA TED MAPLE.

into France by Admiral La Gallissonierc. »Subscquently it \\a»
spread into Germany and England, "where it is in great request
for adorning pleasure-grounds, on account of tlie rapidity of its
growth and the beauty of its foliage, whose bright green forms
an agreeable contrast with the surrounding trees. Its young
branches, of a lively green, contribute to the favor in Avhich it
is held, and serve to distinguish it in the winter, when its leaves
are fallen.

The utility of its wood, I believe, has of late been exagge-
rated ; both Europe and America possess many trees superior in
strength as well as in size. It appears certain, however, that,
growing in copses, and cut everj^ three or four years, it would
afford a profitable product in its sprouts, which are very nume-
rous, and which, during the first years, shoot with astonishing
rapidity. The success of this experiment will be more certain
if it is made on grounds constantly moist and cool : though the
Box Elder may seem, for a few years, to prosper in dvj and
meagre soils, it sooner or later pines and perishes. Of this I
became convinced in conversing with several proprietors in the
environs of Paris, who, after some recent publications on this
tree, had made an unsuccessful attempt to derive profit from
their poor lands by planting them with the Box Elder.

PLATE XLVI.

A branch xoith leaves and seed of the natural size.

Moimlam Manl

-hi'/- iiionliiiuiiii .

MOUNTAIN MAPLE.

Acer montanum. A.foliis (ri-subquinqudobis, aciiminatis, dcntaiis, riigosis;
racemis spiciformibus, subcreciis, pdalis linear lb us.

This species is more abundant in Canada, Nova Scotia, and
along the whole range of the Alleghany Mountains, than in any
other part of North America. It is called Mountain Maple and
Low Maple. Though the last of these names indicates the
stature of the tree, I have retained the first, which is more gene-
rally in use, and which is likewise appropriate, as this Maple
grows of preference on the declivities of mountains exposed to
the north, and in cool, moist, and shady situations, on the abrupt
and rock}' banks of torrents and rivers. On the Mohawk, for
instance, near the Little Falls, it abounds among the enormous
rocks which lie scattered along its sides.

The Mountain Maple is six or eight feet in height, and it
l)looms even at a smaller elevation. It most frequently grows
in the form of a shrub, with a single and straight stock. The
leaves are large, opposite, and divided into three acute and
indented lobes : they are slightly hairy at their unfolding, and,
when fully grown, they are uneven and of a dark green upon
the upper surface. The blossoms are small, of a greenish color,
and produced in semi-erect spikes from two to four inches in
length. The seeds, which are smaller than those of any other
American Maple, are fixed upon slender, pendulous footstalks:
they are reddish at maturity, and each of them is surmounted
by a membranous wing, and has a small cavity upon one side.

The Mountain Maple is too small to be profitably cultivated
for its wood; and, as its flowers, its roots, and its bark are desti-
tute of any very sensible odor, it promises no resources to

medicine. It is found in the gardens of the curious, rather to

175

176 D 0 G W 0 0 D.

complete the series of sjDecies than for aii}- remarkable property
of its foliage or of its flowers.

This species is commonly grafted upon the Sj'camore, and,
like the Moose Wood, it is thus augmented to twice its natural
dimensions. This surprising development evinces how great
are the advantages which may be derived from this process and
from continued cultivation in improving inferior vegetables.

PLATE XLVII.

A branch icilh leaves aiulfloiccrs of their natural size. Fig. 1. A bunch of
seeds of the natural size.

[The Mountain Maple sometimes attains the height of twenty-
four feet; the leaves assume, toward autumn, various rich shades
of red, with the seeds yellowish, and in this state it has con-
siderable beauty.]

DOGWOOD.

CoRNUS FLORIDA. C. folUs ovalib^(s, acuminatis subtus albicantibis ; flori-
bus sessiliter capitatis; involucro maxima, foliolis apice deformi quasi
obcordatis; fructibus or at is, 7'ubris.

Tetrandria monogyuia. Linn. Capvifolia. JtJSS.

AiroxG the eight species of Dogwood which have been ob-
served in North America, this alone is entitled by its size to be
classed with the forest-trees. It is the most interesting, too,
for the A-alue of its wood, the properties of its bark, and the
beauty of its flowers. In the United States at large, it is known
by the name of Dogwood, and in Connecticut it is also called
Boxwood.

11.. ^U (Mill

Cornus florida

DOG AV 0 0 D. 177

The Dogwood is first seen in Massacliusetts, between the 4'2d
and 43d degrees of latitnde; and in jn-oceeding soutliward, it is
met with uninterruptedly throughout the Eastern and Western
States, and the two Floridas, to the banl<;s of the Mississippi.
Over this vast extent of country it is one of the most common
trees, and it abounds particularly in New Jersey, Pennsylvania,
Maryland, and Virginia, wherever the soil is moist, gravelly,
and somewhat uneven ; farther south, in the Carolinas, Georgia,
and the Floridas, it is found only on the borders of swamps,
and never in the pine-barrens, where the soil is too dry and
sandy to sustain its vegetation. In the most fertile districts of
Kentucky and West Tennessee, it does not appear in the forests
except where the soil is gravelly and of a middling quality.

The Dogwood sometimes reaches thirty or thirty-five feet in
height and nine or ten inches in diameter; but it does not
generally exceed the height of eighteen or twenty feet and the
diameter of four or five inches. The trunk is strong, and is
covered with a blackish bark, chapped into small portions, which
are often in the shape of squares more or less exact. The
branches are proportionally less numerous than on other trees,
and are regularly disposed nearly in the form of crosses. The
young twigs are observed to incline upward in a semicircular
direction.

The leaves are opposite, about three inches in length, oval, of
a dark green above and whitish beneath; the upper surface is
very distinctly sulcated. Toward the close of summer they are
often marked with black spots, and at the approach of winter
they change to a dull red.

In New York and New Jersey, the flowers are fully blown
about the 10th or loth of May, while the leaves are only begin-
ning to unfold themselves. The flowers are small, yellowish,
and collected in bunches, which are surrounded with a very
large involucre composed of four white floral leaves, sometimes
inclining to violet. This fine involucre constitutes all the beauty

178 DOGWOOD.

of the flowers, •\vhicli are very numerous, and wliicli in their
season robe the tree in Avhite like a full-blown Apple-tree, and
render it one of the fairest ornaments of the American forests.

The seeds, of a vivid glossy red and of an oval shape, are
always united. They remain upon the trees till the first frosts,
when, notwithstanding their bitterness, they are devoured by
the Eobin, Turdus migraiorius, which about this period arrives
from the northern regions.

The wood is hard, compact, heavy, and fine-grained, and is
susceptible of a brilliant polish. The sap is perfectly white,
and the heart is of a chocolate-color. This tree is not large
enough for works which require pieces of considerable volume :
it is used for the handles of light tools, such as mallets, small
vices, etc. In the country some farmers select it for harrow-
teeth, for the hames of horses' collars, and also for lining the
runnel's of sledges; but, to whatever purpose it is applied, being
liable to split, it should never be wrought till it is perfectly
seasoned. The shoots, when three or four years old, are found
proper for the light hoops of small, portable casks; but the con-
sumption in this way is inconsiderable. In the Middle States,
the cogs of mill-wheels are made of Dogwood, and its divergent
branches are taken for the yokes which are put upon the necks
of swine to prevent their bi'eaking into cultivated enclosures.
Such are the profitable uses of this tree : it affords also excellent
fuel, but it is too small to be brought into the markets of the
cities.

The liber or interior bark of the Dogwood is extremely bitter,
and proves an excellent remedy in intermittent fevers. It has
been known and successfully used by the country-people, as a
specific in these maladies, for moi'e than fifty years. Its
medicinal pro2:)erties were made the subject of a thesis defended
in the College of Physicians at Philadelphia, in 1803, in which
was presented an analysis of the bark of the Dogwood and of
the Blue-berried Dogwood, compared with the Peruvian bark.

DOG W () 0 D. 179

By the experiments made on this occasion, the Dogwood bark
was shown tu have a close analogy to the Peruvian bark, and to
be capable, in many cases, of supplying its place with success.
The author of this excellent piece cites a physician of Penn-
sylvania, who during twenty years had constantly employed it,
and who estimated thirty-five grains of it to be equivalent to
thirty grains of the Peruvian bark. The only inconvenience
accompanying its use was that, if taken within a year after
being stripped from the tree, it sometimes occasioned acute pains
of the bowels; but this evil was remedied by adding to it five
grains of Virginia Snake-root, {Arlstolocliia serpentaria.)

The same author gives a receipt for making an excellent ink,
in which this bark is substituted for gall-nuts. Put half an
ounce of Dogwood bark, two scruples of sulphate of iron, and
two scruples of gum-arabic, into sixteen ounces of rain-water:
during the infusion shake it repeatedly.

The Dogwood merits the attention of Europeans for the value
of its wood, and especially for the brilliancy of its flowers, by
which it is better adapted than almost any other North Ameri-
can tree to the embellishment of forests, parks, and extensive
gardens.

PLATE XLVIII.

A branch with leaves and flowers of tlie naiiirnl size. Fiij. 1. A branch
with fruit of (he natural size.

[From the bark of the smaller roots the Indians obtained a
good scarlet color. The smaller branches, stripped of their bark
and used as a brush, are said to render the teeth extremely
white. Emerson.]

GEORGIA BARK.

PrxcKNETA piTBEXS. P. foUis opposiUs, ovaUbus, utrinque aciitis ; suh-
tomcntosis.

Pentaudria monogynia. Linn. Rubiacea3. Juss.

Obs. Floribus majusculis, pallcntibus et purpurco-lineatis, fasciculato-paniculatis.
Capsulis subrotuiulis, modice compressis: semiiiibus uumerosis alatis.

This tree, still more interesting by the properties of its bark
than by the elegance of its flowers and of its foliage, is indige-
nous to the most southern parts of the United States : probably
it grows also in the two Floridas and in Lower Louisiana. My
father found it for the first time, in 1791, on the banks of the
St. Mary. He carried seeds and young plants to Charleston,
and planted them in a garden which he possessed near that city.
Though intrusted to an ungrateful soil, they succeeded so well
that in 1807 I found several of them twenty-five feet high and
seven or eight inches in diameter; which proves that the vege-
tation of this tree does not require a ver}- warm climate nor a
very substantial soil.

With a great affinity to the CuicJiona, which yields the Peru-
vian bark, my father discerned in the Georgia Bark sufficient
differences to distinguish it as a new genus. In testimony of
his gratitude and respect, he consecrated it to Charles Cotesworth
Pinckney, an enlightened patron of the arts and sciences, from
whom my fixthcr and myself, during our residence in South
Carolina, received multiplied proofs of benevolence and esteem.

The Georgia Bark is a low tree, dividing itself into numerous

branches, and rarely exceeding the height of twenty-five feet

and the diameter of five or six inches at the base. A cool and

shady exposure appears the most favorable to its growth. Its

leaves are opposite, four or five inches long, of a light green
ISO

f'.l Jlf./o,'/.; ,/cl.

Georoia IVxrk

I'uh-k/Nlfil .'>///>iVI,'-

G E 0 R G I A B A R K. 181

color, and downy underneath, as are also the shoots to which
they are attached. The flowers, which are white, with longitu-
dinal rose-colored stripes, are pretty large, and are collected in
beautiful panicles at the extremity of the branches. Each
flower is accompanied by a floral leaf, bordered with rose-color
near the upper edge. The capsules are round, compressed in
the middle, and stored with a great number of small, winged
seeds.

The wood of the Georgia Bark is soft, and unfit for use in the
arts; but its inner bark is extremely bitter, and appears to par-
take of the febrifuge virtues of the Cinchona, for the inhabitants
of the southern parts of Georgia employ it successfully in the
intermittent fevers which, during the latter part of summer and
the autumn, prevail in the Southern States. A handful of the
bark is boiled in a quart of water till the liquid is reduced one-
half, and the infusion is administered to the sick. From the
properties of its bark, the Pinckneya has taken the name of
Georgia Bark. It is to be wished that some intelligent physician
would examine these properties with care, and indicate with
accuracy the manner of employing this indigenous remedy, and
the effects to be expected from it. The tree which produces it
so nearly resembles the Peruvian vegetable, that some botanists
have included them in the same genus.

PLATE XLIX.

A liranrh ic'dh leaves avcl flowers of the nntural size. Fig. 1. A seed-eesscl.
Fi'j. 2. A seed.

COFFEE TREE.

(tyjinocladus Canadensis. G. foliis bipinnatis, a7V2')lissinus, deciduis;

foliolis ovalibus, acuminatis; jloribus racemosis; leguminosis poly-

spermis.

Dloecia decandria. Linn. Leguniinosfe. Juss.

Upper Canada bej-oiid Montreal, and that part of Genesee
Avliicli borders on Lake Ontario and Lake Erie, are the most
northern countries which produce the Coffee-tree: but it is
much less abundant in these climates than in the States of
Kentucky and Tennessee, and in the tract which is bounded by
the rivers Ohio and Illinois, between the .35th and 40th degrees
of latitude. The large dimensions which it exhibits in these
regions is attributable to the milder temperature of the seasons
and to the extreme fertility of the soil.

The French of Canada call this tree Chicot; those of Illinois,
Gros Fevler ; and the inhabitants of the Western States, Coffee-
tree.

The presence of the Coffee-tree is an index of the richest
lands; on which it habitually grows in company with the Black
Walnut, the Red Elm, the Poplar, the Blue Ash, the Honey
Locust, and the Hackberr3^ These trees it equals in height,
but not in bulk; for a Coffee-tree fifty or sixty feet high does
not generally exceed twelve or fifteen inches in diameter.

In summer, this tree, when fully gro-\vn, has a fine appear-
ance : its straight trunk is often destitute of branches for thirty
feet, and supports a summit not very widely spread, but of a
regular shape and of tufted foliage: such at least is its form in
primitive forests, where it is confined by the trees Avhich grow
around it. In the winter, when its leaves are fiillen, the paucity

of its branches and the size of the terminal ones, which are very

JS2

P/. 6\

CoflVe Tree

COFFEE TREE. 183

large in comparison with those of other trees, give it a peculiuT
appearance, somewhat resembling a dead tree. This is probably
the reason of its being called Chicot — Stump-tree — by the French
Canadians. To this peculiar character is added another of the
epidermis, which is extremely rough, and wliich detaches itself
in small, hard, transverse strips, rolled backward at the ends,
and projecting sufficiently to render the tree distinguishable at
first sight. I have also remarked that the live bark is very
l:)itter, so that a morsel no bigger than a grain of maize, chewed
for some time, j^roduces a violent irritation of the throat.

The leaves are three feet long and twenty inches wide on
young and thriving trees : on old ones they are not more than
half as large. These leaves are doubly compound, with oval-
acuminate leaflets from one to two inches long. The leaflets
arc of a dull green, and in the fall the petiole is of a violet
color.

The Coffee-tree belongs to the class Dicecia of Linnaeus, which
includes all vegetables whose male and female flowers are borne
by different plants ; in which case those only that boar the
female flowers produce fruit : to effect the fecundation, it is
necessary that there should l^e male plants growing near them.
The flowers and the fruit are large, bowed pods, of a reddish-
bi'own color, and of a pulpy consistency within. They contain
several large, gray seeds, which ai'e extremely hard. The
French of Upper Louisiana call them Gourgan.es.

The name of Coffee-tree was given to this vegetable by the
early emigrants to Kentucky and Tennessee, who hoped to find
in its seeds a substitute for coffee ; but the smaller number of
persons who made the experiment abandoned it as soon as it
became easy to obtain from the seaports the coffee of the West
Indies.

The wood of the Coffee-tree is very compact and of a rosy
hue. The fineness and closeness of its grain fit it for caljinet-
making, and its strength renders it pi'oper for building. Like

184 C 0 F F E E T R E E.

the Locust, it has the valuable property of rapiillj converting
its sap into perfect wood, so that a trunk six inches in diameter
has only six lines of sap, and may be employed almost entire.
These qualities recommend it for propagation in the forests of
the north and of the centre of Europe.

The Coifee-tree was sent to France more than fifty years since.
It thrives in the environs of Paris, where there are trees that
exceed forty feet in height ; hut it does not yield fruit, and is
multiplied only by shoots obtained by digging trenches round
the old trees. The divided roots produce shoots three or four
feet long the first year. The young trees are sought, on account
of their beautiful foliage, for the embellishment of parks and
picturesque gardens.

PLATE L.

A branch lolth floivcrs of the natural size. Fig. 1. ^1 j^od of the natural
size. Fi(j. 2. A seed of the naturcd size.

[The Coffee-tree thrives as far north as Massachusetts. It
requires a rich, deep, free soil, and, when isolated, spreads over
a large space, and is extremely beautiful. It is readily propa-
il'atcd from the seeds.]

END OF VOL. I.

artrttOTTPED

•..#>^

lylBrvi

.;■'■ J'*

.9^ § O

' .•ig.">'ilJl4

Wmif

P

^Pl'.^

f#^ 1 ♦' »;

■i* ■'■'•• 1"'

m

1

1