112 AUDUBON 



five or six miles to the nearest water-course, where, al- 

 though it sinks, it can with comparative ease, be shipped 

 to its destination. The best time for cutting the live-oak 

 is considered to be from the first of December to the begin- 

 ning of March, or while the sap is completely down. 

 When the sap is flowing, the tree is "bloom," and more 

 apt to be "shaken." The white-rot, which occurs so fre- 

 quently in the live-oak, and is perceptible only by the 

 best judges, consists of round spots, about an inch and a 

 half in diameter, on the outside of the bark, through 

 which, at that spot, a hard stick may be driven several 

 inches, and generally follows the heart up or down the 

 trunk of the tree. So deceiving are these spots and trees 

 to persons unacquainted with this defect, that thousands 

 of trees are cut, and afterwards abandoned. The great 

 number of trees of this sort strewn in the woods would 

 tend to make a stranger believe that there is much more 

 good oak in the country than there really is; and per- 

 haps, in reality, not more than one-fourth of the quantity 

 usually reported, is to be procured. 



The live-oakers generally revisit their distant homes 

 in the Middle and Eastern Districts, where they spend 

 the summer, returning to the Floridas at the approach of 

 winter. Some, however, who have gone there with their 

 families, remain for years in succession; although they 

 suffer much from the climate, by which their once good 

 constitutions are often greatly impaired. This was the 

 case with the individual above mentioned, from whom I 

 subsequently received much friendly assistance in my 

 pursuits. 



