Red oak

“ Fig. 62.—Leaf and Fruit of Red Oak.
Enemies: Like most of the other oaks, this species is comparatively free from insects and disease.
Value for planting: The red oak grows faster and adapts itself better to poor soil conditions than any of the other oaks and is therefore easy to plant and easy to find in the nurseries. It makes an excellent street tree, is equally desirable for the lawn and is hardly surpassed for woodland planting.
Commercial value: The wood is hard and strong but coarse grained, and is used for construction timber, interior finish and furniture. ”

“ The oaks are more tenacious of their leaves than any other deciduous tree, though they are fairly early in showing autumn tints. Long after the reds of other trees of the wood are buried in the brown drifts that cover the roots from the too fierce frosts of winter the rich deep crimsons and red-browns of the oak remain. ”

“ Kenneth Henke and Bobby Snow between them explained that the grain of the red oak is hard, strong and coarse but warps and has little value for weather or ground work. Its acorns require two seasons to ripen, whereas those of the white oak mature in one season. The latter is called white because of the pale color of its bark and wood. This kind is fine-grained, heavy, strong, very durable and of great value. When we speak of “hearts of oak” it is always the white variety we have in mind. You know how important it is for ship building and other enterprises. ”

“ He tells, me they have ten species of oak; viz, white, black, red, spanish, turkey, chesnut, ground, water, barren, and live oak. The white, turkey, and chesnut are used for ship-timber; the acorn of the latter very superiour in size to any other. Red oak is chiefly used for pipe-staves, and exported to most parts of Europe, and the West Indies. Black oak is a dry wood, and easily splits; is chiefly used for the rails and fences of their enclosures. Ground oak is bushy, and seldom exceeds six feet in height ”

“ The white oak is the handsomest species, and takes its name from the very light color of the bark on the trunk, by which it is easily known. The leaves are long in proportion to the width and deeply divided into lobes, of which there are three or four on each side. There is a great variety in the shape of oak-leaves, those of our white oak being long and slender, while the red oak has very broad ones, and the foliage of the scarlet oak is almost skeleton-like. The chestnut oak has leaves almost exactly like those of the chestnut. ”

“ In some instances, where the soil is fertile and climate favorable, the yellow oak produces a large, clear trunk, with sound wood, of good color, and equal to that of red oak; but the reverse is often the case—trunks are small and rough, wood hard and brittle, color not satisfactory, and strength not up to standard. Sometimes first class yellow oak passes without question as good red oak in the finish and furniture business, but that is not its usual course. Well developed wood is heavy, hard, strong, bright brown, tinged with red, with thin, lighter colored sapwood. ”

“ It is the oak which is found farthest north, and it grows in all kinds of soil from Nova Scotia southward to Northern Georgia. The red oak was one of the earliest American trees introduced into Europe. ”

“ Black or Red Oak Group: Fruit requires two years to mature, leaves have sharp points on lobes.
217. WATER OAK, duck oak, or pin oak (Quercus nigra L.) Habitat: low, sandy land, rare. Leaves: usually about 21⁄2 inches long and 11⁄2 wide, narrow toward base, usually broader toward tip, shallowly lobed toward tip or entire, smooth and dark green above, tardily deciduous. Bark: rather smooth, reddish brown. Fruit: acorns usually solitary, very short-stalked, light brown, 1⁄2 to 2⁄3 inch long. Wood: heavy, hard, strong, little used except for fuel and crossties. ”

“ Northern red oak leaves have shallow sinuses and a dull-green upper surface with little or no pubescence in the vein axils on the underside. Shumard oak leaves have a glossier surface, shallow to deep sinuses that are usually wider than the adjacent lobes, and definite hairiness at the vein axils. The sinuses of scarlet oak are also usually wider than their adjacent lobes, which are usually toothed. ”

“ The red oak leaf is large, smooth, rather thin, its oval broken by triangular sinuses and forward-aiming lobes, that end in bristly points. The blade is broadest between the apex and the middle, where the two largest lobes are. ”

“ Cracks sometimes develop in the trunk, extending up and down many feet. Unless the logs are carefully sawed, a considerable loss occurs where these cracks cross the boards. Trunks are occasionally bored by worms, as all other oaks may be.
Red oak grows rapidly. It will produce small sawlogs in the lifetime of a man. It is a favorite tree for crossties, and railroads have made large plantings for that purpose. ”

“ Of all our native trees, I think the oak excels in beauty of foliage. By many oaks might not be considered nut trees, but nearly all of the acorns are eaten by squirrels or other wild animals and so I think it would be proper to mention oaks when speaking of nut trees in the landscape. In the northern states we have two groups known as the white oak group and the red oak group. ”

“ When a lumberman speaks of red oak he may mean any one of a good many kinds of trees, but when a botanist or forester uses that name he means one particular species and no other. For that reason there is much uncertainty as to what species is in the lumberman’s mind when he speaks of red oak. ”

“ The leaf base of southern red oak is somewhat bell-shaped, but that of cherrybark is not. Southern red oak forms heavy ridges of bark; cherrybark does not.
The distinctive feature of Black Oak, Q. velutina Lam., is its yellow-orange inner bark. Its leaves take three forms. Seedlings to small saplings have a “bear-paw” leaf with only a suggestion of lobing. Lower leaves on large trees also have little lobing, but leaves from the middle and upper crown are clearly lobed. The uppermost leaves, which have seven lobes and deep sinuses, are usually illustrated as typical. ”

“ No Old World species is native to America. Each continent has its own.
East of the Rocky Mountains the oaks hold a place of preëminence among broad-leaved trees. They are trees of large size, and they often attain great age. They are beautiful trees, and therefore highly valued for ornamental planting. This has led to the introduction of oaks from other countries. We have set European, Japanese, and Siberian oaks in our finest parks. Europe has borrowed from our woods the red oak and many others. All countries are richer by this horticultural exchange of trees. ”

“ The tall gold-colored red-oaks make masses of strong color; and later, when we think the shimmering of the fairy rainbow is fading, the white oaks come out in a mist of pale carnation—pink and gray and cream.
In June, after all the hardwoods have merged into uniform light green, firs and spruces become jeweled at every point with tips of light, the new growth for the year. Red pines and white pines are set all over with candelabra of lighter green, until high on the tops of the seeding white pines little clusters of finger-slender pale green cones begin to show. ”

“ The ground required for oak is buff colour, either light or dark, according as the age of the wood is intended to be represented. To make this light tint, a little yellow ochre, with white lead, drier, oil, and turpentine, are all that are required; while if it is very new wood, the ground should be the colour of rich cream; if old oak, the ground colour can be darkened according to taste with Roman ochre, light red, and burnt umber. ”

“ The acorns of white oak are particularly liable to be devoured because of their sweetness, while those of red and black oak, which afford timber of comparatively little value, are allowed to sprout, and thus come to possess the land. ”

“ It is found abundantly in nearly all parts of the country, and forms the larger part of our broad-leaved forests. There are a number of species of oak, but they are in general known to commerce as the red and the white oak. ”

“ The barks of all species are also so charged with acid as to be used in the tanning of leather. The several kinds of oak are commercially divisible into three general groups, white oak, red or black oak, and live oak. ”

“ One may fancy the clouds themselves are plants, springing up in the sky-fields at the call of the sun, growing in beauty until they reach their prime, scattering rain and hail like berries and seeds, then wilting and dying.
The mountain live oak, common here and a thousand feet or so higher, is like the live oak of Florida, not only in general appearance, foliage, bark, and wide-branching habit, but in its tough, knotty, unwedgeable wood. ”

“ And yet the splendor both of individual clusters and of whole scenes is unsurpassable. The oaks are now far advanced in their change of hue; and, in certain positions relatively to the sun, they light up and gleam with a most magnificent deep gold, varying according as portions of the foliage are in shadow or sunlight. On the sides which receive the direct rays, the effect is altogether rich; and in other points of view it is equally beautiful, if less brilliant. This color of the oak is more superb than the lighter yellow of the maples and walnuts. ”

“ It supports a great weight of thick limbs, irregular and crooked. Clear up to the knotted twigs, and tough brown leaves that often hang on all winter, the oak has a stubborn look. It dares the winter winds to do their worst. And it looks so old, so wise, such a scarred hero of a thousand fights. The old Norse sea kings and the brave English once worshiped the oak tree. It gave them ship timbers that could stand the strain of wind and waves. Many ancient peoples thought dryads, or wood spirits, lived in oak trees. ”

“ The sturdy oak, in fine weather, bends only its topmost branches to the light wind, and its leaves and twigs alone are troubled by the summer breeze; but when the gale lays low the trees of the forest and whirls the leaves about like ocean spray, then the oak is stirred to wild action; tosses its gnarled limbs in the air, and moves the very earth on which it stands. ”

“ There is one objection to the beech which also lies against the white oak—it does not drop its leaves within the space of a few autumn days. The bleached foliage is falling all winter long, thus giving the ground near an untidy aspect. With some, the question of absolute neatness is paramount; with others, leaves are clean dirt, and their rustle in the wind does not cease to be music even after they have fallen. ”

“ 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. ”

“ The twigs of oak trees are more or less distinctly five-angled, and the winter buds cluster at the ends. This insures a group of young shoots, crowded with leaves, on the ends of branches, and a dense outer dome of foliage on the tree.
Nearly three hundred distinct species of oaks are recognized by botanists, and the list is growing. New species are in the making. For instance, a white oak and a bur oak grow near enough for the wind to "cross-fertilize" their pistillate flowers. The acorns of such mixed parentage produce trees that differ from both parents, yet reveal characteristics of both. ”

“ Although, as I have already said, there are eight different kinds of oak-trees growing in our valley and mountains, two of these kinds, the live-oaks and the white oaks, are by far the most common and numerous. As one stands upon the mountain tops or foothills and looks down and over the broad valley, all still and drowsy under the warm afternoon sun, it seems as if you were looking at a single great orchard with the trees in it in close-set regular lines and plots in some places, and irregularly scattered and farther apart in other places. ”

“ Though geologically young, the oak family is one of the most important, furnishing timber of superior strength and durability for bridge-building, ship-building, and other construction work. Tanning has depended largely upon oak bark. As fuel, all oak trees are valuable.
Fifty species of oak are native to North American forests. Twice as many grow east of the Rocky Mountains as west of the Great Divide. No species naturally passes this barrier. The temperate zone species extend southward into tropical regions, by keeping to high altitudes. ”

“ The ideal of the mountain oak may be anything, twisting, and leaning, and shattered, and rock-encumbered, so only that amidst all its misfortunes, it maintain the dignity of oak; and, indeed, I look upon this kind of tree as more ideal than the other, in so far as by its efforts and struggles, more of its nature, enduring power, patience in waiting for, and ingenuity in obtaining what it wants, is brought out, and so more of the essence of oak exhibited, than under more fortunate conditions. ”

“ A great oak stands at the meadow’s neck, an oak with gnarled and wandering roots where a man may rest, for it is bare of daffodils save for a group of three, and a solitary one apart growing close to the old tree’s side. I sat down by my lonely little sister, blue sky overhead, green grass at my feet decked, like the pastures of the Blessèd, in glorious sheen ”

“ Of the more than 20 species of commercially important Eastern oak, white oak is truly outstanding. From the earliest days it provided a valuable source of timber for houses, ships, and furniture. Strength, durability, and beauty are the words for white oak. Its uses range from barrels and bridges to flooring and fine cabinets.
22 Exploring the World of Trees
In every National Forest there are places where visitors can see and learn more about America’s trees—the firs, pines, poplars, maples, and oaks already briefly described, and others of the forest’s 175 commercially important species. ”