98 ESS A YS. 



assigns to this noble tree the age of at least five hundred 

 years ; — a credible estimate, notwithstanding the girth of the 

 tree is somewhat overstated in that account. Its circumfer- 

 ence at the smallest part of the trunk (four feet above the 

 ground), — which is always the proper point for measure- 

 ment, — instead of from twenty-four to twenty-seven, is only 

 twenty-two feet four inches ; although near the base, owing to 

 the influence of the spreading roots, its girth is considerably 

 greater. 



But of all American species, the invaluable Live Oak of 

 our southern coasts will probably be found to attain the great- 

 est longevity ; although it seldom becomes a very large, or, 

 at any rate, a very tall tree. Like the finest European Oaks, 

 its branches spread very widely, and contain a prodigious 

 quantity of timber. " The trunk of the Live Oak," says Mr. 

 Bartram, in his delightful " Travels in Florida," " is generally 

 [on the St. John's River] from twelve to eighteen feet in 

 girth, and rises ten or twelve feet erect from the earth ; some 

 I have seen eighteen or twenty ; then divides itself into three, 

 four, or five great limbs which continue to grow in nearly a 

 horizontal direction, each limb forming a gentle curve, or 

 arch, from its base to its extremity. I have stepped above 

 fifty paces, on a straight line, from the trunk of one of these 

 trees to the extremity of the limbs." 



The younger Michaux mentions a tree felled near Charles- 

 ton, whose trunk was twenty-four feet in circumference ; and 

 we learn that another individual of still greater size is still 

 flourishing on the plantation of Mr. Middleton, near that 

 city. According to Mr. Nuttall, 1 the tree sometimes acquires 

 the diameter of eight or nine feet in west Florida. All these 

 trees must have attained a great age ; for this heavy and al- 

 most incorruptible wood is of extremely slow growth. May 

 we not hope that some competent observer will collect the 

 requisite information upon this subject, before all the larger 

 trunks have yielded to their impending fate ? 



The Olive grows much more slowly than the Oak, and as 

 its wood is very compact and durable, it is not surprising 

 1 " N. Am. Sylva," Supplement, i. p. 16. 



