WHITELEAF OAK (_Quercus hypoleuca_). The beauty of this small evergreen oak of the mountains of western Texas, New Mexico, and Arizona, is in its foliage rather than its wood. Large trunks--that is, those twenty inches or more in diameter--are apt to be hollow, but the sound wood is employed in repairing wagons in local shops, and in rough ranch timbers. Its importance will never extend beyond the region where it grows, but in that region it will continue to be used where nothing better can be obtained. The largest trees are sixty feet high, and two in diameter, but few reach those dimensions. It is an arid land oak. It grows at from 4,000 to 6,000 feet elevations on mountains and plateaus. The leaves remain thirteen months on the twigs. They are of the willow form, ranging from two to four inches in length and one-half to one in width. The acorns are small and bitter. The strength of this oak is remarkable, if it may be judged by the figures given by Sargent. Two samples of wood procured by himself and Dr. Engelmann on a dry, gravelly ground among the Santa Rita mountains in Arizona, showed breaking strength sixty-one per cent greater than the average given by the same author for white oak. The stiffness of the specimens was a little above white oak, and the weight three pounds more per cubic foot. It should be borne in mind, however, that results derived from a test of only two samples are not a safe basis for concluding that the wood generally will average of so great strength. The annual rings of growth are not clearly marked. The wood is porous, but the pores are not generally arranged in bands, although they occasionally follow that arrangement. The medullary rays are broad and abundant, but are rather short, measured along the radial lines. They are of pink color, a characteristic not unusual with oaks in semi-arid regions. The foliage is doubtless the most valuable characteristic of whiteleaf oak. The leaves are silver white below, and dark green above. When they are agitated by wind the flashing of the different tones and tints in the sunshine presents an attractive picture. It belongs to the willow oak branch of the red oak group, and bears two-year acorns. [Illustration] SCARLET OAK [Illustration: SCARLET OAK] SCARLET OAK (_Quercus Coccinea_) The name of scarlet oak is in use in Vermont, Massachusetts, Rhode Island, Connecticut, New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Delaware, North Carolina, Missouri, Illinois, Indiana, Wisconsin, Minnesota, Michigan, Nebraska, Iowa, and Ontario; red oak is the name in North Carolina, Alabama, Wisconsin, Nebraska, and Minnesota; black oak in Nebraska, Illinois, Iowa, and Wisconsin, and Spanish oak in North Carolina.