Tula, and Penza, to Sergievsk near the southern Ural, in lat. 54°. The eastern limit commencing here, extends southwards, taking in the Crimea and Cilicia in Asia Minor. The southern limit extends through Greece, southern Italy, Sardinia, Catalonia, and the northern provinces of Spain to Asturias.
Asa wild tree it does not occur in low-lying plains and alluvial ground; but is met with on the hills and lower ranges of the great mountain chains of Europe. It ascends in Hanover to 1900 feet, in the Alps to 3900 feet, in the Carpathians to 3300 feet, and in the Pyrenees to 5300 feet. In all these localities it ascends considerably higher than the pedunculate oak, reaching, e.g., in the Alps 1500 feet higher than that species. (A.H.)
Propagation and Culture
The oak produces acorns in great abundance in some seasons,[1] generally about one year in three; but this varies very much in different parts of the country; and, so far as I have noticed, fruit occurs oftener and more abundantly in the south and west of England. It begins to bear at a very early age in some cases; and I received, in 1906, a packet of acorns from Miss Woolward, which she assured me were taken from oaks only ten years old from seed. Mr. Emerton, the head gardener at Belton Park, Notts, where they grow, confirms this. In the same season I saw acorns on the Billy Wilkin's Oak, which must be 700 to 800 years old; and was told that the Cowthorpe Oak, which is possibly much older, still bore a few. Acorns are greedily eaten by all domestic animals, but are injurious to cattle if taken in very large quantities.[2] Pheasants and pigeons also consume a great many, and rooks are credited with dropping most of the acorns which so often spring up as seedlings in places far from their parent tree.
The raising of oaks from seed is so easy, and the plants obtained are, as a rule, so much superior to what one can buy, that no one who wishes to plant them should fail to try the experiment by selecting acorns from the best oaks in the neighbourhood. These ripen in October, and should be gathered from the ground as soon as they fall, as dry as possible. They will not keep if stored damp, and my own experience is that they make stronger growth the first year if sown as soon as gathered, because the radicle will then bury itself deep in the ground before winter, and the germination will take place earlier. But if it is desired to sow the acorns where the tree is to grow, they must be protected against mice, rooks, pheasants, and wood-pigeons, all of which are very fond of them. Red lead or paraffin is sometimes used, but the latter is liable to injure the acorn, and it is said that chopped furze placed over the acorn is the best means of protecting them against mice. They should be covered with at least an inch of soil, and, if dibbled, care must be taken that they do not fall in the hole end downwards, but lie on their side in their natural position.
In 1901 I made experiments on the growth of oaks from acorns produced by
