Part 17

The chestnut is closely allied to the sweet or Spanish chestnut of Europe. The nuts of the American species are sweeter than those of the Spanish chestnut, but they are much smaller. From a French experiment it was found that the kernel of the chestnut yields sixteen per cent of good sugar.

Castanea dentata

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1. Red Oak. 2. Scarlet Oak. 3. Black Oak. 4. Pin Oak. 5. Swamp White Oak. 6. White Oak. 7. Mossy-cup Oak. 8. Post Oak. 9. Chestnut Oak. ]

The generic name was taken from Castanea, a town in Thessaly, and the specific name, dentata (having teeth), refers to the serrations of the leaf. The chestnut is found throughout the Northeastern States.

Quercus]

There are in all nearly three hundred different oaks which have been described by botanists, and fifty of these are found in North America, exclusive of Mexico. The oaks are large trees of temperate climates, and both in Europe and America few trees have the same varied and general usefulness. The extraordinary strength in the great, horizontal branches, their breadth and lateral sweep, and the rugged boldness of the trunk have long associated the oak with all that stands for strength, duration, and unswerving vitality. An oak never seems out of place; no matter whether we find it growing in unbroken forests, on a country estate, in a little garden, or by the roadside, it always harmonizes with its surroundings and adds to the composition of the landscape.

Oaks are divided into two groups, the white oaks and the black oaks. In New England there are eleven native oaks, six white oaks and five black. The white oak, the swamp white, the mossy cup, the chestnut, the dwarf chestnut, and the post oak belong to the first group, and the black oak, the red, the scarlet, the pin, and the bear or scrub oak belong to the second group.

The oak is distinguished from all other trees by its acorn.

The general characteristics of the oaks in winter are as follows:—

The upper lateral buds cluster at the top of the twig.

The buds have a tendency towards being five-sided in shape.

The bud scales are close and overlapping.

The leaf-scars project from the stem.

The bundle-scars are scattered over the leaf-scar.

The pith is five-angled. By cutting a twig across, the pith can be seen in the centre in the form of a five-rayed star.

The leaves very often remain on oaks through the winter.

The following characteristics distinguish the white oaks from the black oaks:—

The bark of the white oaks is lighter in color than that of the black oaks, and it flakes off in strips instead of breaking away in coarse ridges, as it does in the black oaks.

Quercus alba

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The acorns of the white oaks mature in one year, those of the black oaks take two years to ripen, so that these young acorns are found on the branches of the black oaks in winter.

The leaves of the white oaks have rounded lobes, and the lobes of the black oak leaves are tipped with a sharp bristle point.

The generic name, Quercus, comes from the Celtic quer (fine) and cuez (a tree), or possibly it may be derived from the Greek choiros, a pig, because in Europe pigs formerly fed on the acorns of oak trees.

Quercus alba]

A large tree, 60 to 80 feet high, with a trunk often six feet in diameter. The bark is light gray; the twigs smooth and light gray; the recent shoots light reddish or grayish brown; alternate leaf-scars. Small, round buds, smooth and short, about as long as they are wide. Acorns in a shallow, rough cup, often sweet and edible.

The white oak seems to figure in one’s earliest associations with the woods in winter. The sound of the withered leaves rustling in the wind is peculiarly suggestive of cold weather and dreariness, and invariably strikes the keynote of the woods on a bleak December day. Towards the end of winter the leaves are blown away or fall off, and then the beautiful ramifications and stalwart limbs of the trees are fully revealed. I have often noticed in the country that when one large, old white oak is found growing in an open pasture, there are usually five or six more of the same size and age within a short distance. This may be accounted for by the fact that in the early New England days these trees were in great demand for ship-building, and farmers waited for the most promising trees to reach maturity before selling them. On some farms these oaks happened to escape the axe, and have not only outlived the men who spared them, but stand for landmarks now, long after the farms themselves have been deserted and forgotten.

The wood of the white oak is very heavy and hard, and durable in contact with the soil. It is used in the construction and interior finish of buildings and in ship-building, for making carriages, cabinets, agricultural implements, baskets, and for fences and railroad ties. It also makes excellent firewood.