Many hybrids have been reared from the ilex. One of the choicest is Turner's oak (_Q. Turneri_), said to have originated in the Holloway Down Nursery, Essex, in 1795, as a cross between the ilex and the common English oak. It is of moderate stature, not greatly exceeding 50 feet, and is semi-evergreen, retaining its leaves, which are of a bright, rather light green, till February. The Lucombe oak (_Q. Lucombeana_) is also sub-evergreen, a hybrid between the ilex and the Turkey oak (_Q. cerris_), but is a much loftier tree than Turner's oak; the foliage inclines in colour to the ilex, but the leaves approach those of the Turkey oak in form, the under surfaces being clothed with white down. This variety was raised about 1765 by William Lucombe, of Exeter. Another remarkable hybrid, apparently between _Q. ilex_ and _Q. cerris_, is the Fulham oak, of which the finest example I have seen in Scotland grows on the banks of the Ayr, in the grounds of Auchencruive. Although these hybrid oaks ripen acorns, they cannot be relied on to produce exact counterparts of their parents, the offspring of cross-bred seeds always tending to revert to one or other type in the cross. Of the forty-seven North American species of oak enumerated by Sargent, none is to be desired by reason of the quality of its timber, which in every instance is inferior to that of our native species; but three, at least, have proved their value in this country as highly decorative trees, owing to the rich tints of the foliage in autumn. These are the red oak (_Q. rubra_), the scarlet oak (_Q. coccinea_) and the pin oak (_Q. palustris_). These are all trees of great stature, the pin oak having already exceeded 100 feet in height in England, presenting a gorgeous display when its leaves turn scarlet in the fall. In Scotland, however, the summer is not always warm enough to produce these fine colours; in wet, cold seasons the foliage remains green till the early frost blights it into brown. Among oaks of the Old World, the Hungarian oak (_Q. conferta_ syn. _pannonica_) and the Algerian oak (_Q. mirbeckii_) are the most ornamental, and have proved amenable to British conditions. As a curiosity, a sheltered corner may be found for the Japanese _Quercus acuta_, a small evergreen tree with large laurel-like leaves, quite hardy, but apt to be broken by snow. In the absence of flowers or acorns, it would puzzle anyone to identify this tree as a member of the great clan of oaks. The Beech