It is surprising that the Oak has had the reputation of being a slow-growing tree. This reputation probably comes from the Old World, where the growth of the English Oak is acknowledged to be slow. In our country this species does better. It often makes three, and generally two, growths a season. Thrifty branches generally have an annual lengthening of 3 feet, and we have seen 5 feet as a single season's growth. Our native oaks all grow with fair average rapidity - the White Oak only, in the Editor's experience, being rather slow. The average growth of a 25-year-old tree would be over 20 inches a year, which is as much as most forest trees grow. We give with this an engraving of a Pin Oak, which in Germantown, in soil not by any means rich, reached 20 feet high in a growth of ten years - the first few years of seeding stage not being counted - and 20 inches in circumference.

Pin Oak.