White oak

“ Higher up are red oaks, of various shades of dull red, with yellowish, perhaps black oaks, intermixed, and walnuts now brown, and near the hill-top or rising above the rest, a still yellow oak, and here and there amid the rest or in the foreground on the meadow, dull, ashy, salmon-colored white oaks, large and small, all these contrasting with the clear, liquid, sempiternal green of pines. ”

“ The white oak, especially when young, holds many of its leaves in spring and these with their brown color, give a warmth to the snowy landscape. One could make a most beautiful park by planting nothing but oaks and they should rank with maples and elms as street trees. ”

“ Well, down in the wood yonder there's enough dead white oak, standing or on the ground, to make three thousand, nine-foot posts, and one seasoned white oak will outlast two cedars, and it is twice as strong. ”

“ Oak is not a suitable wood for exposure to trying climatic conditions, though if buried deeply, or in water, where there is no alteration in moisture or dryness, it gives satisfaction. White oak is used to great extent for railroad ties, but what these are to be made of in the future is causing much speculation, as the end of the present supply of white oak is already in sight. ”

“ 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. ”

“ 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. ”

“ While it is one of the most valuable of the family, the white oak is in danger of extinction, because of its value as timber and on account of the sweetness of its nuts, which makes it a favorite with wild creatures that will not eat the bitter acorns of other oaks. ”

“ WITHIN its natural range, which includes practically the entire eastern half of the United States, the white oak is one of the most important timber trees. It commonly reaches a height of 60 to 100 feet and a diameter of 2 to 3 feet; sometimes it becomes much larger. It is found in a wide variety of upland soils. When grown in a dense stand it has a straight continuous trunk, free of side branches for over half its height. In the open, however, the tree develops a broad crown with far-reaching limbs. Well-grown specimens are strikingly beautiful. ”

“ When grown in the open it possesses a short sturdy trunk; in the forest its trunk is tall and stout.
Range: Eastern North America.
Fig. 58.—Bark of White Oak. (Quercus alba.)
Soil and location: The white oak thrives in almost any well-drained, good, deep soil except in a very cold and wet soil. It requires plenty of light and attains great age.
Enemies: The tree is comparatively free from insects and disease except in districts where the Gipsy moth is common, in which case the leaves of the white oak are a favorite food of its caterpillars. ”

“ 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. ”

“ White oak is a porous wood. Some of the pores are large enough to be visible without a glass, and twenty times as many more can be seen only when magnified. The direction of the pores is up and down the trunk of the tree, and they are seen to best advantage in the end of a stick, although they are always more or less visible on the side of a board when the cutting is a little across the grain. The pores thus cut diagonally across are taken advantage of by the finisher who works stains and fillers into them, and changes their natural color, thereby accentuating the wood’s figure. ”

“ 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. ”

“ Striking the side of the dark pines, the wind changes their colour and turns them paler. The oak leaves slide one over the other, hand above hand, laying shadow upon shadow upon the white road. In the vast net of the wide elm-tops the drifting shadow of the cloud which the wind brings is caught for a moment. ”

“ The live oak (quercus virens) is likewise found in great abundance. [52] It is said to grow only on the highlands ; in this respect differing from the live oak of Florida. It has a diameter of three or four feet, and an altitude of sixty or seventy. For solidity, strength, and durability, judging from specimens in my possession, I deem it equal to any in the world. This invaluable timber extends northward beyond the 40th parallel.
But the most lordly species of oak here found is the white oak, {q. navalis.) It abounds on the river banks, and covers the low hills on the prairies. ”

“ 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. ”

“ While the leaves of the white oak do not deflect and curve as much in their growth as those of some of the more graceful and elegant trees, they nevertheless fall into natural and pleasing groups, unfolding a pretty variation as they work out their patient spiral ascent, leaf after leaf, round the stemlet ”

“ To that extent the two species are not competitors for ground, and post oak is assured a place in future woodlots, but it cannot be expected ever to equal white oak in commercial importance, while as an ornamental tree it is not usually favored because the shape of its crown is not altogether pleasing. ”

“ The California white oak far exceeds the Eastern white oak in the spread of its mighty arms. The dome is often two hundred feet in breadth and the trunk reaches ten feet in diameter. Such specimens are often low in proportion, the trunk breaking into its grand divisions within twenty feet of the ground. The ultimate spray is made of slender, supple twigs, on which the many-lobed leaves taper to the short stalks. Dark green above, the blades are lined with pale pubescence. The acorns are slender, pointed, and often exceed two inches in length. ”

“ Several of the black oaks have leaves with sharp pointed lobes, ending in bristles. This helps to separate them from the white oaks, but not from one another, for the true red oak, the scarlet oak, the yellow oak, the pin oak, and others, have the sharp-pointed lobes on their leaves; while the willow oaks have no lobes or bristles on theirs, yet are as truly in the black oak group as any of the others. The identification of tree species, particularly when they are as much alike as some of the oaks are, is too difficult for the layman if he undertakes to carry it along the whole line ”

“ 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. ”

“ Many of the oaks yield products which are made use of in the arts, apart from their timber, the most valuable of which comes from our European oak, the white oaks of North America, and one or two Himalayan species. In several countries oaks are grown for the sake of the bark, cups, etc., as a tanning material, and these even form important articles of export. ”

“ The cheapest and most successful method of propagating white oak is to plant the seed in the places where the trees are desired to grow. This is best done by planting the acorns as soon as they fall or are mature. The best results will be obtained if the nuts are planted with the small end down, and covered about an inch deep with earth. If the ground is a hard clay soil and the small end of the nut is placed down a half inch of earth on the nut is sufficient. ”

“ 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 two trees grow side by side in the woodland, the black, if anything, the more vigorous in growth, yet the scaly white{100}ness of the bark of the one always seems hospitable, the rugose blackness of that of the other unfriendly. So with the fruit; the rich flavor of the white oak acorns is inviting, the meracious bitterness of the others is repellent. ”

“ A singular spot it is—one of those wild forest scenes by which nature oft surprises and delights her straying worshipper.
It is a glade of circular shape, with a colossal tree standing in its centre,—a live-oak with trunk full forty feet in girth, and branches spreading like a banyan. Though an evergreen, but little of its own foliage can be seen, only here and there a parcel of leaves at the extremity of a protruding twig; all the rest, great limbs and lesser branches, shrouded under Spanish moss, this in the moonlight showing white as flax. ”

“ The level upland cornfields stretch away white and vacant to the hills—white, too, and clear against the sky. The plain is silent, and nothing that can be seen moves upon its surface.
On the verge of the wood which occupies the sloping ground there stands a great oak tree, and down one side of its trunk is a narrow white streak of snow. Leaning against the oak and looking upwards, every branch and twig is visible, lit up by the moon. Overhead the stars are dimmed, but they shine more brightly yonder above the hills. ”

“ 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 ”

“ This kind is farther to be distinguished by its fulness of leaves, which tarnish, and becoming yellow at the fall, do commonly clothe it all the winter; the roots growing very deep and stragling. The author of Britannia Baconica, speaks of an oak in Lanhadron-Park in Cornwall, which bears constantly leaves speckled with white; and of another call’d the painted oak ”

“ Where they are regular and close together, [Pg 287] they really are orchard trees; where they are irregular and widely spaced and larger, they are the beautiful live-oaks and white oaks that grow in all the grain-fields and meadows and pastures of our valley. The live-oaks have small leaves, dark green and close together, and the head of the tree is dense and like a great ball; the white oaks have larger, less thickly set leaves of lighter green, and the branches are more irregular and straying and they often send down delicate pendent lines that swing and dance in the wind like long tassels. ”

“ A little further on we crossed the Chalu-chhu, and the valley widened out into the most delightful glades and upland swards, forming rich grazing-grounds; in fact, Chalu-thang would form a perfect site for a summer sanatorium, for it is a well-wooded, gently sloping park, spreading for several miles up the vales of the Chalu-chhu and Tak-phu-chu. Growing in abundance were spruce, larch, silver fir, holly-oak, various pines and rhododendrons, interspersed with grassy slopes, while the main valley had the appearance of a gigantic avenue leading up to the snowy pyramid of Senchu-la. ”

“ In these forests are found pine, spruce, hemlock, fir, rock and white maple, oak, white, yellow and gray birch, beech, cedar, black larch, cherry, bass-wood, white and brown ash, poplar, elm and chestnut. Fruit-trees are abundant. Apples, pears and plums are extensively grown. ”