White oak was formerly much used in construction work, but it has become
so costly that cheaper woods take its place. At present it is used
principally in cooperage, interior finish, wagon and car stock,
furniture, agricultural implements, crossties, and veneer. Indiana has
the reputation of furnishing the best grade of white oak in the world.
Little attention has been given this valuable species either in
horticultural or forestal planting. This no doubt is due in a great
measure to the slow growth of the tree. It should be used more for shade
tree, ornamental and roadside tree planting. There are good reasons why
white oak should be much used in reforestation. 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. Rodents often destroy the nuts, and if this danger is
apprehended it is best to poison the rodents or to stratify the seed, or
grow seedlings and plant them when they are one year old. In forestal
planting it is suggested that the planting be 4 × 4 feet.
The white oak is quite variable in the lobing of the leaves, and in size
and shape of the fruit, and in the length of its peduncle. The variable
lobing of the leaves has lead several authors to describe varieties
based on this character. The latest is that of Sargent[32] who
describes: "The trees with leaves less deeply divided, with broad
rounded lobes and usually smaller generally sessile fruit," as =Quercus
alba= variety =latiloba=.
=Quercus alba × Muhlenbérgii= (× _Quercus Deami_ Trelease). This rare
hybrid was discovered in a woods about 3 miles northwest of Bluffton
Indiana by L. A. Williamson and his son E. B. Williamson in 1904.[33]
The tree is still standing and in 1918 bore a heavy crop of seed. A
liberal quantity was sent for propagation to the Arnold Arboretum, New
York Botanical Gardens, and Missouri Botanical Gardens. The Arboretum
succeeded in germinating several seed. The New York Gardens succeeded in
getting 5 seedlings. The Missouri Gardens failed to get any to
germinate. About a gallon of seeds was planted in the Clark County State
forest nursery and all failed.
=2.= =Quercus bícolor Willdenow.= Swamp White Oak. Plate 41. Large
trees; leaves on petioles 5-20 mm. long, 8-18 cm. long, obovate,
wedge-shaped or narrowly rounded at base, rounded or pointed at the
apex, margins coarsely divided with rounded or blunt teeth or somewhat
pinnatifid, primary venation beneath somewhat regular, but usually some
of the veins end in a sinus of the margin, both surfaces hairy at first,
becoming smooth above and remaining velvety pubescent beneath; the upper
surface of the leaf a bronze or dark green and the under surface grayish
due to the dense tomentum, which in some instances becomes sparse and
short, in which case the under surface is a light green; acorns usually
in pairs on stalks 2-7 cm. long; nuts ovoid, 2-2.5 cm. long, enclosed
for 1/3-1/2 their length in the cup; scales of cup acute to very long
acuminate, scurvy pubescent and frequently tuberculate; kernel sweetish.
=Distribution.=--Maine, southern Ontario, southern Minnesota south to
Georgia and Arkansas. Found in all parts of Indiana. It is always found
in wet places. In most of its range it is associated with the bur oak
from which it is not commonly separated. In the northern counties it is
usually associated with pin and bur oak, and white elm; in the flats of
the southeastern part of the State it is usually associated with cow oak
and sweet gum, while in the southwestern counties it is found most
commonly with Spanish and pin oak.
=Remarks.=--Commercially the wood is not distinguished from white oak,
and the cut is sold for that species.
=3.= =Quercus Muhlenbérgii= Engelmann. Chinquapin Oak. Sweet Oak. Yellow
Oak. Chestnut Oak. Plate 42. Large trees; leaves on petioles 1-3 cm.
long, blades very variable in size, shape and leaf margins, generally
10-20 cm. long, oblong-lanceolate to broadly obovate, narrowed or
rounded and more or less unequal at the base, taper-pointed at the apex,
the apex always forming an acute angle, margins coarsely and rather
regularly toothed, primary veins beneath regular and straight, and end
in a prominent gland in the point of the teeth, teeth more or less
incurved, leaves smooth and dark green above, and grayish pubescent
beneath; acorns generally sessile, but often on short stalks up to 1 cm.
long; nut ovoid to oblong ovoid, 10-18 mm. long, enclosed for 1/4-1/2
its length in a very thin cup; scales of cup ovate, blunt-pointed or
merely acute, sometimes tuberculate near the base of the cup, grayish
pubescent without; kernel sweet, and the most edible of all of our
oaks.
[Illustration: Plate 41.