114 



THE GARDENER'S MONTHLY 



[April, 



Forestry. 



COMMUNICA TIONS, 



LARGE LIVE OAKS. 



BY W. ST. J. MAZYCK, IIAGLEY PLACE, S. C. 



Neither of the five live oaks, Q. virens, of 

 which I vyrrite, are as large as the Cawthorpe 

 Yorkshire oak, mentioned in your January 

 number, but they are very respectable sticks of 

 timber nevertheless. At Old Town plantation, 

 on the west bank of the Ashley river, the site 

 of Charleston, which was abandoned about 1680 

 for Oyster Point, there stands a live oak that 

 measures thirty-two feet in circumference. 

 One side of this tree was injured many years 

 ago by fire. It must have been a big tree when 

 the Indians burnt the town. 



At Peach-tree plantation, on the west bank of 

 the South Santee, there is a live oak that meas- 

 ures twenty-nine feet around, the first limb meas- 

 uring sixteen feet around, and extending seventy- 

 five feet. At midday it shades half an acre of 

 ground. Prof. M. Numey said it was probably 

 the finest tree this side of the Mississippi river, 

 and that it was worth a man's time and money 

 to come from Canada to see it, — rather an ex- 

 pensive trip in 1846 when he saw this tree. 



At Weehonoka plantation, on the east bank 

 of the Waccamaw river, three live oaks grow 

 near each other. The first one measures twenty 

 feet, the second seventeen feet nine inches, and 

 the third fifteen feet around. These trees were 

 all measured in the smallest part ; all of them 

 have the hour-glass shape to a greater or lesser 

 degree. K'ot far from these last trees there is a 

 common fox grape-vine, that measures four feet 

 and two inches round. 



EDITORIAL NOTES. 



How TO Prepare Sumac— The New York 

 Times says: "Sumac is not a merchantable ar- 

 ticle until it is properly prepared. The prepara- 

 tion consists of gathering the leaves in July, 

 along with the fine tvi^igs, drying them under cov- 

 er, threshing them with a flail, sifting out all the 

 coarse stuff, grinding the fine matter into powder 

 under a vertical rolling millstone, and packing 

 in bags of 200 pounds. When gathered at the 



proper season and prepared in the best manner, 

 American Sumac, even that grown in northern 

 localities and heretofore supposed worthless, is 

 said by tanners to be equal to the best Italian. 

 The trouble is that it is not yet prepared pro- 

 perly nor gathered at a season when its coloring 

 properties are just right, so that it gives a dark 

 shade to the leather, when a clean white shade 

 is desired. For this reason the very best Vir- 

 ginia sumac sells for half the price of the foreign, 

 and Kew York sumac would be unsalable in the 

 market at any price, because tanners would not 

 dare use it, lest their leather might be spoiled. 



Scarcity of the Hemlock Spruce.— Offi- 

 cial returns show that in New Brunswick the 

 Hemlock Spruce (Abies canadensis,) is becoming 

 as scarce as in adjacent parts of the United 

 States. "It is found only in certain parts of the 

 island, and is rapidly diminishing, owing mainly 

 to the ravages of fire, to which it is peculiarly 

 subject, and to the fact that a large number of 

 trees are cut down for the sale of the bark only, 

 the timber being left to rot in the ground." The 

 reports from the other parts of the dominion 

 bespeak the same reckless waste of all kinds of 

 timber. In British Columbia, which has an area 

 about twice that of the United Kingdom, two- 

 thirds, or in round numbers 110,000,000 English 

 acres, are still covered with timber. A variety 

 of the Hemlock Spruce is one of the commonest 

 trees there. — Timber Trades'' Journal. 



Curiosity of the Woods.— Says the Salis- 

 bury, N. C, Watchman: "Seven miles west of 

 Salisbury, on the premises of James B. Gibson, 

 is a botanic curiosity in the shape of a gum tree. 

 About ten years ago one of the prongs (it branch- 

 ed into a fork about a yard from the ground) was 

 cut off, and in falling one of its limbs caught on 

 alimb of the remaining prong. It was not further 

 molested, and the limb of the dependent tree, 

 now an inch and a half in diameter, grew into 

 the one that held it up. The remarkable feature 

 is that the rootless tree still lives or grows, 

 though not so fast as its twin, — that a tree 25 

 feet high, with abundant foliage, should be sup- 

 plied with sufficient sap from the contact of the 

 above-mentioned limb, a surface of probably not 

 more than three square inches." 



