specimen tree in the Exeter Nursery is 45 ft. high; and the trunk, at the base, measures 7 ft. 6 in. in circumference. 1 Q. C. 12 L. incisa, Q. L. incisa Hort., (fig. 1717.6) has the leaves longer, and somewhat more deeply cut, than those of the preceding varieties. The tree in the Exeter Nursery is 45 ft. high; and the circumference of the trunk, at the base, is 7 ft. Q. C. 13 L.dentata, Q. L.dentata Hort., (fig. 1716.) is a fine large-leaved evergreen variety, lately raised in the Exeter Nursery, and of which there will be plants for sale in the autumn of 1837. Q. C. 14 heterophylla, Q. L. heterophylla Hort., (fig. 1719.) has very variable foliage, and is also a recent production of the Exeter Nursery. Of these two new seedlings, Messrs. Lucombe and Pince inform us that they have a great opinion. Other Varieties. Q. C. bullata, the blistered, or rough-leaved, Turkey oak, is mentioned by Miller; and he probably meant it to apply to Q. C. càna, which has rougher leaves than any other variety that we are acquainted with. In the Fulham Nursery there is a variety of the Fulham oak propagated, Q. C. dentata péndula, which is said to have pendulous shoots; but we have never seen a plant large enough to enable us to determine whether it is sufficiently distinct to be recorded as such. To the varieties mentioned above some dozens might be added, by selecting specimens with widely different-shaped leaves, and continuing them by grafting. In short, Quercus Cérris Lucombeana crispa, in the Exeter Nursery. Height 63 ft.; girt of the trunk 9 ft. ; diameter of the head 48 ft. with the exception of the Lucombe and the Fulham oaks, and the pendulous-branched Turkey oak, we think that the varieties of Q. Cérris are scarcely worth keeping apart, since equally interesting ones may at any time be obtained by raising a number of plants from the acorn. In proof of this we may refer to any plantation containing a number of Turkey oaks which have been raised from seed; and one that just occurs to us is a small avenue of these trees in the Zoological Gardens in the Regent's Park. Description, &c. The Turkey oak is a free-growing tree, with straight vigorous branches, which take a much more upright direction than those of the British or common oak; and both branches and twigs are, in every stage of the tree's growth, wholly free from the tortuous character of those of that species. The trunk is also straighter; but the branches, at their junction with it, being remarkable for an unusual degree of expansion, as shown in fig. 1720., the trunks of middle-aged trees, as it is observed in the Dictionnaire des Eaux et Forêts, often appear gibbous. The bark is comparatively smooth and dark when young, but corky as it grows old; and it is reckoned less liable to chap and crack than that of the common oak. The leaves are of a beautiful bright shining green, somewhat glaucous or hoary beneath; and they vary so exceedingly in size and shape in different trees raised from seed, that almost every individual, if described 1719 1720 from the leaves alone, might be constituted a distinct species: they have short footstalks, and are most readily distinguished from those of oaks of every other section by their small buds, and the numerous linear persistent stipules which proceed from them. The acorns are sessile, or on very short footstalks; and they are easily known by the bristly or mossy clothing of their cups. They are remarkably bitter and austere; a circumstance noticed by Pliny, who says, "Glans cerro tristis, horrida, echinato calice, seu castaneæ." (See Secondat, &c., p. 15.) In the climate of London, young plants make shoots, in one season, of from 1 ft. 6 in. to 3 ft. or 4 ft. in length; and, in ten years from the 1 acorn, in good soil, they will attain the height of from 25 ft. to 35 ft. Even in the comparatively cold climate of Knedlington, near Howden, in Yorkshire, plants, seven years from the acorn, have attained the height of 12 ft. (See Gard. Mag., vol. xi. p. 251.) The duration of the tree does not appear to be nearly so great as that of the British oak; and the timber, after 50 or 60 years' growth, is apt to get shaky. There are very fine specimens of this tree in the neighbourhood of London, at Syon, Muswell Hill, and Fulham Palace; of the first two of which there are portraits in our last Volume. Geography, History, &c. The range of the Quércus Cérris, as we have seen under the head of Specific Character, is limited to the middle and south of Europe, and the west of Asia. The tree, though known to Pliny, has been very little noticed by modern botanists, even on those parts of the Continent where it is indigenous; and in England, Sir J. E. Smith, only a few years ago, had never seen the acorns. In the catalogues, it is indicated as having been brought into cultivation by Miller, in or before 1735, as it is first mentioned in the Appendix to the third edition of his Dictionary, published in that year. It had existed in the country, however, long before that period; because, in the same edition of the Dictionary, the Ragnal Oak, already noticed among the varieties (p. 1849.), is described as a large tree. Properties and Uses. The wood and bark of the Turkey oak are by some considered as having the same properties as those of the British oak; but, as it is only about a century since the tree was introduced into this country, very few specimens have attained a sufficient size to be cut down for timber, and very little experience has been obtained on the subject. One of considerable dimensions, felled, a few years ago, in a part of the Mile End Nursery which was given up for building on, and employed as posts and boarding in a stable, is said to have decayed with extraordinary rapidity. Mr. Atkinson, who has made several experiments with the wood of the common oak (see p. 1787.), wished to try some with that of Q. Cérris, but was only able to obtain one specimen of sufficient age grown in England. This was about 1826, when two trees were cut down at East Hampstead, in Berkshire, a seat belonging to the Marquess of Downshire; and the wood was made into doors for the principal rooms of the mansion. The wood of this tree, Mr. Atkinson says, “is much finer in the grain than that of our British oak, or foreign wainscot: it takes a better polish, and is more beautiful, than any other oak that I have ever seen. From only a single specimen, which I had broken, it was not so strong as our native oak, but equal in toughness; but my specimen being rather cross-grained, it was not a correct experiment, and I suspect it is equal in strength to our oak. For all ornamental purposes, where the wood has to be polished, it is superior; and must be a profitable tree to plant, as it grows much quicker than our common oaks; and I have seen it thrive rapidly in poor land." (Hort. Trans., 2d series, vol. i. p. 338.) On application to the Marquess of Downshire, in March, 1837, to ascertain the present opinion entertained at East Hampstead respecting the wood of the Turkey oak, we have been informed that the wood is not much inferior to that of the English oak if kept quite in the dry; but that it will not stand in water, or in situations where it is alternately wet and dry, so well as that species that if the tree is allowed to grow to the ordinary age at which the British oak is felled, the wood is very apt to get shaky at the heart: and that Turkey oaks require to be felled as soon as any dead twigs are seen in the topmost boughs; or in about 60 or 80 years after planting. Mr. Richardson, who has witnessed the rapid growth of the Q. Cérris at Lady Tankerville's villa at Walton on Thames, where he has been gardener for upwards of 40 years, says that, in deep sandy soil, it grows much faster, and makes a taller straighter tree, with more timber in the trunk in comparison to what is contained in the branches, than either the common oak, or any other species of the genus. (See Gard. Mag., vol. x. p. 336.) In the Dictionnaire des Eaux et Forêts, the wood is said to be very solid, and very good both for civil and naval purposes; more especially that which is grown in the south of France; which, from the warmth of the climate, is found to be harder and more durable than that grown in the north. Bosc, and also the writers of the article on Quércus in the Nouveau Du Hamel, say that the wood is preferred for shipbuilding in the south of France; and also that the tree attains a larger size on poor sandy soil than the common oak. In Olivier's Travels, it is stated that the wood of Q. Cérris is brought to Constantinople from the southern shores of the Black Sea, and employed both in ship-building and in the framework of houses. Whatever may be the properties of the wood of the Turkey oak in the south of Europe or the Levant, the experience of it in Britain, hitherto, can hardly justify our recommending it for other purposes than those of cabinet-making and joinery, The tree, however, is one of very great beauty, both in point of form and foliage; and, being of great rapidity of growth, it is equalled by few for ornamental plantations. The foliage of some varieties is persistent, like that of the beech and the hornbeam: and of others, supposed, as we have seen (p. 1855.), to be hybrids, it is subevergreen, or so near being completely evergreen, as to be retained on the trees till May. Propagation and Culture. The species, and most of the varieties, ripen acorns in England, from which plants are raised with great facility; but the varieties, like those of every other oak, being very liable to sport, can only be continued by grafting or by layers. The stocks employed may be either those of Q. Cérris, or of the common British oak; and the grafting may be performed in the whip manner, with as great certainty of success as in grafting common fruit trees. Some nurserymen find the new evergreen varieties of the new Lucombe oak to take by grafting more readily than the old Lucombe oak; and others prefer stocks of Q. pedunculata to those of Q. Cérris. In the nursery, the plants ought to be annually removed; because scarcely any species of oak suffers so much from transplanting as the different varieties of Q. Cérris. Purchasers of these varieties, therefore, would do well to bespeak them from the grower a year before they require them to be taken up; or to purchase them in spring, on condition of their being immediately taken up, pruned, and replanted, preparatory to their being taken up and removed to their final destination in the succeeding autumn. It is much better for a purchaser to pay double the usual price for plants properly treated in the nursery, than to have one half, or, as we have known sometimes, two thirds, of them entirely fail from nursery mismanagement. Statistics. In the environs of London, at York House, Twickenham, 50 years planted, it is 50 ft. high, the diameter of the trunk 1 ft. 6 in., and of the head 20 ft. ; at the Priory, at Stanmore, it is 53 ft. high, the diameter of the trunk 1 ft. 10 in., and of the head 32 ft.; at Syon, it is 70 ft. high, the diameter of the trunk 2 ft. 8in, and that of the head 73 ft.; at Muswell Hill, 72 years old, it is 62 ft. high, the diameter of the head 50 ft.- South of London. In Cornwall, at Carclew, it is 74 ft. high, the diameter of the trunk 3 ft. 9 in., and of the head 64 ft. In Devonshire, at Mamhead, there are three trees, the largest of which is 100 ft. high, and the others 90 ft. and 80 ft. respectively; the circumference of the trunk of the first is 12 ft., of the second 15 ft., and of the third 14 ft. 1 in.; the probable age of these trees is between 70 and 80 years, having been planted by Mr. Lucombe: at Killerton, 34 years planted, it is 67 ft. high, the diameter of the trunk 2 ft., and of the head 45 ft. at Bystock Park, 18 years planted, it is 50 ft. high; and at Endsleigh Cottage, 15 years planted, it is 40 ft. high. In Dorsetshire, at Melbury Park, 44 years planted, it is 70 ft. high, the diameter of the trunk 3 ft. 9 in., and of the head 40 ft. In the Isle of Wight, in Wilkins's Nursery, 30 years planted, it is 40 ft. high. In Kent, at Cobham Hall, 13 years planted, it is 36 ft. high. In Somersetshire, at Nettlecombe, 68 years planted, it is 74 ft. high, the diameter of the trunk 4 ft., and that of the head 71 ft. In Surrey, at Deepdene, 10 years planted, it is 24 ft. high.; at Nutfield Blechingley, 21 years planted, it is 34 ft. high, the diameter of the trunk is 2 ft. 10 in., and of the head 27 ft. In Wiltshire, at Longleat, 50 years planted, the species is 60 ft. high, the diameter of the trunk 2ft. 6in., and of the head 46 ft.; at Longford Castle, it is 60 ft. high, diameter of the trunk 3 ft. 6 in., and of the head 66 ft.-North of London. In Bedfordshire, at Woburn Abbey, specimens 24 years old are from 30 ft. to 40 ft. high; at Ampthill, 85 years planted, it is 80 ft. high, diameter of the trunk 3 ft., and of the head 50 ft. In Denbighshire, at Kinmel Park, 20 years planted, it is 32 ft. high, diameter of the trunk 1 ft., and of the head 18 ft.; at Eaton Hall, 14 years planted, it is 30 ft. high. In Lancashire, at Latham House, 27 years planted, it is 37 ft high, the diameter of the trunk 16 in., and of the head 32 ft. In Leicestershire, at Whitton House, 30 years planted, it is 46 ft. high, the diameter of the trunk 1 ft. 10 in. In Nottinghamshire, at Clumber Park, it is 53 ft. high, the diameter of the trunk 2ft. 10 in., and of the head 52 ft. In Northamptonshire, at Wakefield Lodge, 10 years planted, it is 26 ft. high. In Shropshire, at Hardwicke Grange, 10 years planted, it is 32 ft. high, the diameter of the trunk 8in. In Warwickshire, at Allesley, 26 years planted, it is 48 ft. high, the diameter of the trunk 17 in.; at Springfield, 30 years planted, it is 34 ft. high, the diameter of the trunk 11 in. In Worcestershire, at Croome, it is 80 ft. high, diameter of the trunk 2 ft. 9 in., and of the head 80 ft. In Yorkshire, at Ripley Castle, 16 years planted, it is 34 ft. high, the diameter of the trunk 10 in., and of the head 12 ft.; at Knedlington, 7 years from the acorn, it is 12 ft. high.-In Scotland. In the environs of Edin burgh, at Hopetoun House, it is 50 ft. high, the diameter of the trunk 2 ft. 3 in., and of the head 52 ft. South of Edinburgh. In Renfrewshire, at Erskine House, 25 years planted, it is 36 ft. high, the diameter of the trunk 11 in.-North of Edinburgh. In Cromarty, at Coul, 20 years planted, it is 38 ft. high, the diameter of the trunk 13 in., and of the head 30 ft. In Ross-shire, at Brahan Castle, it is 50 ft. high, the diameter of the trunk 2 ft., and that of the head 35 ft.-In Ireland. In the environs of Dublin, in the Glasnevin Botanic Garden, 35 years planted, it is 35 ft. high, the diameter of the trunk 1 ft. 4 in., and of the head 25 ft.; at Cypress Grove, it is 70 ft. high, the diameter of the trunk 2ft., and of the head 50 ft. In King's county, at Charleville Forest, 10 years planted, it is 24 ft. high, the diameter of the trunk 2 ft, and of the head 14 ft. In Fermanagh, at Florence Court, 38 years planted, it is 70 ft. high, the diameter of the trunk 2 ft. 6 in., and of the head 56 ft. In Foreign Countries. In France, in Brittany, at Barres, 12 years planted, it is 20 ft. high. In Hanover, at Göttingen, in the Botanic Garden, 25 years old, it is 30 ft. high, the diameter of the trunk 8 in., and of the head 20 ft. In Bavaria, in the Botanic Garden, Munich, 20 years old, it is 15 ft. high, the diameter of the trunk 6in. In Austria, at Vienna, in the University Botanic Garden, 20 years old, it is 25 ft. high, diameter of the trunk 9 in., and of the head 12 ft.; at Brück on the Leytha, 50 years old, it is 36 ft. high. In Prussia, at Berlin, at Sans Souci, 50 years old, it is 40 ft. high, the diameter of the trunk 2 ft., and of the head 18 ft. In Italy, in Lombardy, at Monza, 24 years planted, it is 35 ft. high, the diameter of the trunk 1 ft. 8 in., and of the head 22 ft. Commercial Statistics. Acorns, in London, 10s. per bushel; one year's seedling plants, 10s. per thousand; two years' seedlings, 50s. per thousand; two years' seedlings, one year transplanted, 20s. per thousand. The Lucombe and Fulham oaks, from 2s. 6d. to 3s. 6d. each. Q. Cérris, at Bollwyller, is 2 francs a plant; at New York, 50 cents, and the Lucombe oak 1 dollar. † 7. Q. ÆGILOPS L. The Egilops, or Valonia, Oak. Identification. Lin. Sp. Pl., 1414.; Willd., No. 61.; Ait, No. 20.; Mill. Ic., t. 215.; Oliv. Trav. |
