LIVE OAK 



(Quercus Virginiana) 



THE history of this live oak is a reversal of the history of almost 

 every other important forest tree of the United States. It seems 

 to be the lone exception to the rule that the use of a certain wood never 

 decreases until forced by scarcity. There was a time when hardly any 

 wood in this country was in greater demand than this, and now there is 

 hardly one in less demand. The decline has not been the result of scar- 

 city, for there has never been a time when plenty was not in sight. A 

 few years ago, several fine live oaks were cut in making street changes in 

 New Orleans, and a number of sound logs, over three feet in diameter, 

 were rolled aside, and it was publicly announced that anyone who would 

 take them away could have them. No one took them. It is doubtful 

 if that could happen with timber of any other kind. 



The situation was different 120 years ago. At that time live oak 

 was in such demand that the government, soon after the adoption of the 

 constitution, became anxious lest enough could not be had to meet the 

 requirements of the navy department. The keels of the first war vessels 

 built by this government were about to be laid, and the most necessary 

 material for their construction was live oak. The vessels were to be of 

 wood, of course; and their strength and reliability depended upon the 

 size and quality of the heavy braces used in the lower framework. These 

 braces were called knees and were crooked at right angles. They 

 were hewed in solid pieces, and the largest weighed nearly 1,000 pounds. 

 No other wood was as suitable as live oak. which is very strong, and it 

 grows knees in the form desired. The crooks produced by the junction of 

 large roots with the base of the trunk were selected, and shipbuilders 

 with saws, broadaxes, and adzes cut them in the desired sizes and shapes. 



When the building of the first ships of the navy was undertaken, 

 the alarm was sounded that live oak was scarce, and that speculators 

 were buying it to sell to European governments. Congress appropriated 

 large sums of money and bought islands and other lands along the south 

 Atlantic and Gulf coast, where the best live oak grew. In Louisiana 

 alone the government bought 37,000 live oak trees, as well as large 

 numbers in Florida and Georgia. In some instances the land on which 

 the trees stood was bought. 



Ship carpenters were sent from New England to hew knees for the 

 first vessels of the navy. The story of the troubles and triumphs of the 

 contractors and knee cutters is an interesting one, but too long for even a 

 summary here ; suffice it that in due time the vessels were finished. The 



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