EPISODES 



329 



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changed sides, and his back is turned to you. The trunk 

 now remains connected only by a thin strip of wood. He 

 places his feet on the part which is lodged, and shakes it 

 with all his might. Now swings the huge log under his 

 Ijaps, now it suddenly gives way, and as it strikes upon 

 the ground its echoes arc repeated through the hummock, 

 and every Wild Turkey within hearing utters his gobble 

 of recognition. The wood-cutter however, remains col- 

 lected and composed; but the next moment, he throws 

 his axe to the ground, and, assisted by the nearest grape- 

 vine, slides down and reaches the earth in an instant. 



Several men approach and examine the prostrate trunk. 

 They cut at both its extremities, and sound the whole of 

 its bark, to enable them to judge if the tree has been 

 attacked by the white rot. If such has unfortunately been 

 the case, there, for a century or more, this huge log will 

 remain until it gradually crumbles ; but if not, and if it 

 is free of injury or "wind-shakes," while there is no 

 appearance of the sap having already ascended, and its 

 pores are altogether sound, they proceed to take its meas- 

 urement. Its shape ascertained, and the timber that is 

 fit for use laid out by the aid of models, which, like frag- 

 ments of the skeleton of a ship, show the forms and sizes 

 required, the "hewers" commence their labors. Thus, 

 reader, perhaps every known hummock in the Floridas is 

 annually attacked, and so often does it happen that the 

 white rot or some other disease has deteriorated the qual- 

 ity of the timber, that the woods may be seen strewn with 

 trunks that have been found worthless, so that every year 

 these valuable oaks are becoming scarcer. The destruc- 

 tion of the young trees of this species caused by the fall 

 of the great trunks is of course immense, and as there are 

 no artificial plantations of these trees in our country, 

 before long a good -sized live-oak will be so valuable that 

 its owner will exact an enormous price for it, even while 

 it yet stands in the wood. In my opinion, formed on per- 



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