388 Importance of the Cultivation of the Oak 



selection of durable timber from those trees, are elevated re- 

 gions, high table lands, and an open comitry, where they are 

 not overshadowed by other growths. They should stand 

 where there is ample room for their branches, with a free 

 access of air, heat, and light on all sides, as often seen on the 

 boundary of some plantation, or as ornaments which ven- 

 erate the mansion of the planter, or such like places. The 

 woody fibres of such trees are more dense; they contain more 

 carbon or astringent qualities, with less vegetable albumen : 

 whereas, to the contrary of this, should such timber be cut in 

 low wet grounds, ravines and shady places where they grow 

 compact, it would be liable to decay from the causes men- 

 tioned, as there would be an excess of those constituent prin- 

 ciples, and a softer structure that would hasten the decay, 

 and cause the dry rot, so deleterious to our navies. The age 

 of the oaks is next to be considered. They generally attain 

 their maximum height and full development at the age of 

 fifty or sixty years, and, after that period, they progress but 

 slowly, until they arrive at a very advanced age, as two or 

 three hundred years or more. Those of the live oak that can 

 be best recommended for durable timber, are such as have 

 arrived to the period of a hundred years or more, if the con- 

 stitutions of the trees are sound, and no visible decay is pres- 

 ent. The gigantic growth of this tree at the age last men- 

 tioned far surpasses any of its species. The measurement of 

 one of its limbs by myself in a horizontal line exceeded sixty- 

 five feet, while the diameter at the junction exceeded the size 

 of the bodies of many red and black oak species of a full size, 

 or secondary growths that have survived seventy winters. 

 We repeat that the maturity of the species of oaks must be 

 considered before used or appropriated for ship-building ; for 

 it is at this period the strength and durability of the wood 

 are fully developed, and the longitudinal fibres tough and re- 

 sisting. As the albuminous matter of which we have spoken 

 is a nitrogenized compound, it is of a putrescible nature, and 

 therefore forms food for insects, which penetrate the wood in 

 various directions, admitting air and water to the interior of 

 the timber. It is evident that this chemical action, or fer- 

 mentative process, must be greatly favored by external causes, • 

 or the location in which the wood is placed. The close ap- 



