October 8, 1865. ] 



JOUBNAL OP HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 



with our own pretty country lane;?, and warm grassy woodlantl 

 banks. 



Loaving my little friends to onjoy life in the Flmilo, I looked 

 around for a litllt' of the same comfort for my own person, 

 and forthwitli turned into a most delightful unil>raRe(Uis walk 

 ■paved with lirie);, and arched over by an avenue of Evergreen 

 •Oak, called here Live Oak. This is a beautiful tree, varying 

 ■in size from a large shrub to a forest tree 80 and even more feet 

 high. Tlie hark is a dark ash colour, hut slightly fissured when 

 compared w ith that of the Oaks generally. The head of such 

 trees as grow by themscl.ves is nearly globular, and tlie leaves, 

 which are suuill, present a dark, shiuing, hully-liko apiiearance ; 

 the fruit is also small, and not so prettily-shaped as the acorns 

 of our own Oak ; indeed, the whole tree lacks the nobility and 

 grandeur of the lU'itish Oak. The timber, which is of two kinds 

 or rather colours, called tlie white and rod, is of great value for 

 ship-buiUUng, and other jiurposes, where strength and dura- 

 bility are required, being a lieavy, dense, tough, and durable 

 wood, breaking with a sti'ingy, fibrou^s fracture, and capable of 

 bearing a great strain ; but it has the serious disadvantage of 

 being subject to dry rot, which greatly lessens its value. 



HaWug proceeded some distance down this avenue I turned 

 aside again into the sun to pluck a Uower growing very nearly 

 upon the sand, it was of a sweet bluish piuk colour, and I 

 quickly stooped to seize my prize, but to my sorrow at once 

 discovered that if there be " no Bose without its thorn," the 

 saying holds etpially good in the case of the Cacti, and having 

 learnt wisdom by experience, and paid for my momentary for- 

 getfulness of their nature by half a dozen pretty deep and acutely 

 paiufui punctures fi-om the sharp spines of this individual 

 plant, I carefully gathered the flower, and, like the bear with 

 the honey, growlingly bore off my prize, and not much of a one 

 either, for ere I hail walked half an hour in the blazing sun the 

 poor beauty had perished and withered away, and was then 

 cast aside as useless, being like many another beauty possessed 

 of that evanescent charm alone, with no sweet scent or inward 

 virtue to recommend it after its one single merit of external 

 loveliness had passed away. 



Having passed from the N.avy Yard through the straggling 

 town, or rather village, adjoining it, I came to a road thi-ough 

 a quantity of scrub and timber of various sizes, kinds, and 

 dimensions — came to a road, no, not quite, 'tis a slight lapsus 

 calami, for even I, acquainted as I am with the roads of all 

 parts of the world, could liardly feel justified in calling a 

 space between the bushes cut up in every conceivable manner 

 by wheels, horses, pigs, and cattle, in some places knee deep in 

 sand, in others the same in a mixture of sand, leaf mould, and 

 water, by the lofty title of a road. Still, why find fault with 

 that track ? no doubt it answered Uncle Sam's soldiers just as 

 well for their trafiic between the village and camp as the very 

 best road in all Europe could have done ; but I feel satisfied 

 that few lovers of the picturesque would not have been as un- 

 reasonable as myself, in loudly denouncing Uncle Sam and his 

 nephews, for tolerating such a nuisance, though nothing could 

 possibly exceed in picturesque beauty the road and its fre- 

 quenters. One of the scenes upon it would have particularly 

 sti'uck the eye of a painter, had any such been present to see 

 it. By the side of a pure crystal stream, which crossed the 

 track, and is in turn spanned by a rustic wooden bridge, stood 

 a pretty well-house formed of strong rough timber with an 

 over-hanging roof built something after the Swiss fashion, and 

 shaded by noble trees of various kinds, one in particular being 

 noticeable on account of its waxy-looldng foliage, in striking 

 contrast with the Pitch Pine's needle-Uke leaves, and the 

 Cotton-wood's soft-looking boughs ; it is the Bay tree, and grows 

 to the height of 80 or 100 feet, being of singular beauty and 

 grandeur. Around on all sides are flowers of the most brilliant 

 hues, from snow white to bright gamboge and brilliant scarlet, 

 intermingled with lovely blues and delicate greens ; in fact, all 

 the varied and exquisite colours in which Flora delights to be- 

 deck her children. Amidst all this lavish display of Nature's 

 beauties, within and around the well-house, sat or stood groups 

 of United States' soldiers in luiiforms war-worn and stained, and 

 scarcely recognisable as such, they and their horses looking alike 

 lean and dii-ty, and reminding one far more of a set of bandits 

 than soldiers fighting for their coimtry's existence ; still they 

 looked very picturesque, and no one on viewing them if pre- 

 viously unacquainted with the neighbourhood would have 

 imagined that the men who sat there laughing, joldng, and 

 smoking, whilst they gossiped and watered their horses, were 

 constantly on the qui vivi' for an active and energetic enemy, 

 who might momentarily make an attack, and whose advanced 



posts were, as the crow flies, within a mile and a half of that 

 very spot, and within five hundred yards of their own iiickets, 

 and seldom an hour passing without the oom]ihmentof a rifla 

 shot being excljaliged. 



Let us pusli on, however, and leave our picturesque hut nil- 

 pleasant neighbours, for wo shall find something by going a 

 little further, which I think will interest us more. Having 

 walked through the camp of a white infauti^ regiment, wo 

 come to the edge of a small chaiiparal or flat jilain, grown over 

 with Dwarf Oak. lu the middle of this rises an old Portuguese 

 fnrt once consid(!reil of great consequence, being reckoned im- 

 lireguable. It now belongs to the Americans, having as they 

 as.sert been bought by them between forty and fifty years ago, 

 it is called Fort Barramas, and is one of the defences of Pen- 

 sacola Harbour. The Dwarf Oak of these chajiparals seldoia 

 grows taller than 12 or 1-t feet high, sometimes as little well- 

 formed trees, but far more often as sha))eless bushes, being 

 frequently so closely crowded together as to render it utterly 

 impossible to follow the trail, either of man or beast, and many 

 even of the most experienced hunters and Indians will sooner 

 skirt an Oak chapparal (which in some parts of America, as 

 in Texas, Sonora, and Mexico, is of such a size as to requu-a 

 hours, and sometimes days to cros.s), than attempt to cross 

 it, as where this Oak is found it is principally loose, sandy 

 soil, destitute of water or game. The best ideal can give of 

 this Oak itself, is to recommend those who wish for its likeness 

 to go and look at the stump of some Oak which has been felled 

 about two years, and from which the yoiuig shoots have been 

 allowed to spring, these with their large leaves will at the end 

 of the summer give some notion of the Dwarf Oak. 



Going on a little further and passing by a bit of swamp 

 caused by the overflowing of the Lagoon, where gi-ows in gi'eat 

 abundance a very curious and beautiful Pitcher-plant, we will 

 bend our steps towards that elevated ground on which we see 

 growing those fine straight trees. Ah ! here we have something 

 to interest us, for the tree before us is the valuable, I had almost 

 said invaluable. Pitch Pine, which forms so large a portion of 

 the wealth of some of the Southern States, and which has 

 been so wantonly, recklessly, and absurdly cut down and de- 

 stroyed, both prior to, and during this late American war. The 

 I'itch Pine is a noble tree, straight and boughless save at, and 

 near the crown, varying in height from CO to 130 or 140 feet, 

 and seems to grow hke other Pines in belts, a few hundred 

 yards on either side of which it will be almost impossible to 

 find a specimen. The timber of this tree is the hardest and 

 most durable of the Pine tribe, and like the tree itself, goes by 

 the name of Pitch Piue. It is very heavy but tough, elastic, 

 and extraordinarily durable, pieces of it containing much resiu 

 being more lasting than even Elm, Oak, or Teak. When 

 planed and clear of knots its appearance is very beautiful, 

 looking like, a collection of orange and pale yellow ribbons. It 

 is used extensively for the spars and masts of ships, though on 

 account of its great weight and straight grain it is not equal 

 for this purpose to the Cowrie Pine of New Zealand, which 

 stands alone as spar timber. It is also most valuable for decks 

 and ship-building purposes generally ; but its value does not 

 cease here. Before being cut down for timber the tree is made 

 to yield articles of still greater cost than the timber — viz., 

 turpentine and resin, the market value of both of wliich is 

 now so enormously high ; for the sources from which England, 

 and, in fact, the world was to a great extent supplied, have 

 during the last four years been checked and almost ex- 

 tinguished by the lamentable civil war of America, and it 

 will require years for this branch of commerce to recover 

 itself, if, indeed, it ever does, about \\hich many competent 

 judges seem doubtful. Most trees ivill bear several tappings 

 for the purpose of obtaining the juice, and the process is roughly 

 as follows : — A hole is bored into the stem of each tree, from 

 this the rough turpentine flows and is caught in vessels placed 

 to receive it. This juice is then carried away to a kind of still 

 and boiled, the part evaporated being preserved, and after 

 being further purified sold under the name of turps, oil of 

 turpentine, or spirits of turpentine, the residue after being 

 allowed to cool and concrete, being the valuable substance 

 known as resin. Tar and pitch are likewise obtained from the 

 roots of this tree. Some idea may be formed of the importance 

 of the tree in some of the Southern States, when I inform the 

 reader, that I was told by an American officer that he was 

 present at the destruction of, in one place alone, over a million 

 and a half barrels of rosin which had been placed at a station 

 ready for transmission by railway, and I have every reason to 

 credit the statement. — A Sukgeon. 



