Handbook of Nature-Study · Lesson CXCII · Topic 28: Tree study
192. The oaks
Goal: Your child can describe an oak and its acorns and tell the white-oak group from the red-oak (black-oak) group.
You'll need
- Acorns and leaves from one or more oaks
- A ruler
- A nature notebook and a pencil (colored pencils if you have them)
- A flowerpot of soil (optional, for planting an acorn)
What's in the book
The lesson asks for one oak to be studied and for all the oaks of the neighborhood to be compared, with nine observations on the tree, its leaves, its acorns, its age, the two groups of oaks, its flowers and the uses of its wood.
The lesson, step by step
When and where
Fall, when acorns drop, is the best start. Any oak will do. Collect leaves and acorns from as many different oaks as you can find.
The leading thought
The oak tree is the symbol of strength and loyalty. Let us study it and see what qualities in it have thus distinguished it.
The tree
What shape is its head? How high in proportion to the head is the trunk? What is the color and character of its bark?
Are the branches straight or crooked? Delicate or strong?
Leaves
Find three leaves from your tree which differ most widely in form, and sketch them or make leaf prints of them for your note-book. Does the leaf have the lobes rounded, or angular and tipped with sharp points?
Acorns
How much of the acorn does the cup cover? Are the scales on the cup fine or coarse?
What is the length of the acorn including the cup? The diameter?
Measure several. Don't taste them: acorns are bitter and upset the stomach unless specially prepared.
The two groups
What is the difference in leaves between the white and the black oak groups? What is the difference in the length of time required for the acorns to mature in these two groups?
Sort your leaves into two piles: rounded lobes, and pointed lobes with tiny bristle tips.
Plant an acorn
Drop your acorns in water; throw away the floaters, which are often hollow or wormy. Plant a sinker an inch deep in a pot and leave it outdoors over winter. Watch for a sprout in spring.
Nature notebook
Draw an acorn with its cup and the three leaves that differ most. Write "white oak group" or "red oak group" beside each.
Answers to the book's problems
White oak group: rounded lobes without bristles; acorns ripen in one season and are less bitter; bark usually pale. Red or black oak group: pointed lobes with bristle tips; acorns take two seasons to ripen and are bitter; bark usually darker. Oaks can live for several hundred years.
Worked out for this site from the scan. If a number in your copy differs, trust the book.