New Orleans Republican. [volume] (New Orleans, La) 1867-1878, 1873-06-29
LIVE OAK.

The Macon tGeorgia) Telegraph say, .h...
are fields on the seaboard Of thar So
which have been cleared over ;OO go
and which still contain the numer,r. .r
right trunks Of girdled live oaks .,op.
which the sap wood long since has .slI en'
Bleached by the gales Of old ocean. .hav
remain as eentries on the coast. Their yiaH.
arms standing rigidly forth. and ofter.ime:
surmounted by the bald eagles ey,;r Nv
the huge nests Of fish hawks.
These live oak trees are SO hard .. 81,
most 20 turn the edge of the keenes. a,
To drive nail into one Of them j, we'll
nigh impossible. And even when ,roa
trated by the hurricane and deeply i'm.
bedded in the yielding soil of the :oas.
they seem Inpervious to time and .he at'
triton Of the elements. They remsin
bleaching upon the earth just as they IN
generations ago.
For shipbuilding. no material can com.
pare with this description of timber. n.
knees and other portions Of the fran. of a
man-of war are fashioned by nature. :bo
wood cutter having a drawing of each piece
and seeking its counterpart among the Lupa
and wide spreading boughs of TIE mopareh
of the forest The trunk of the live ok "a
of immense diameter, but seldom exceed.
fifteen feet in height. At about tina. ,is.
tance from the earth i: shoots out gigantic
branches many feet IN circumference ard
extending horizontally 10 great distance
These limbs assume tOrtuOus and yariopa
shapes. SO that almost every angle IA de.
scribed by them. Hence the ability to pro.
cure the crooked knees 20 essential in thu
construction OF q ship. The Gnarled ,,eces
OF timber possess amazing strength ara lu.
rability. and can stand any amour. Of
straining and the heaviest sea.
A single live oak will sometimes cover
one-fourth of an acre. With their deep
green. delicate leaves, and the long testoons
OF gray moss draping their venerable forms.
20 more striking object in nature can be
found. They produce an immense number
OF slender acOrns about three -fourtts of an
inch in length, and quite palatahle az an
article of food. The i've oak cutters OF tho
government penetrate the densest thickets.
ana with their short club axes cut down
these vast trees close TO the ground with
wonderful CELEBRITY, They then construc.
improvised corduroy roads Of poles. ard
with the aid OF oxen drag their dismen-
bered prizes TO the nearest water course.
where they are hoisted on board the vessel
or barge, as the case may be. and conveyed
to deep water So great is the specific
gravity of this wood that it Will sink 20 Tho
bottom like stone, and therefore can not
be RATED as other timber.
The timber sells by the cubic foo., and
commands high prices. On the coast Of
Georgia the general government owns one
island called Blackboard, which, in tho
early youth OF the writer, was rented to
several fishermen upon the condition that
they sowed small area of land with
acorns of the live oak, and cultivated .
plantation Of young trees. This spot was
the place, tradition declares, where the
pirate, Captain Kidd, secreted his i'll got
ten treasure, and the whole island is thickly
indented with the holes dug by credu!oas
exulOrerK