The Oak. 



it to produce such a quantity of knees. The American 

 ships, when for sale, are said to be built of Live Oak and 

 Red Cedar. Ninety -nine times out of a hundred such 

 sayings are false ; but the assertion proves beyond all doubt 

 the great celebrity of the wood. Michaux tells us that it 

 is sought after with most destructive eagerness, and that 

 he considers its disappearance from the United States,within 

 fifty years, as nearly certain. 



447. I trust that it will make its appearance in England 

 in proportion as it disappears in the United States ; for, 

 besides the utility of it, besides the great interest the 

 country has in its cultivation here, it is a large and beautiful 

 evergreen, not liable to be broken by the winds, every twig 

 being as tough as a bit of rope ,• never flinching at the 

 frost and snow, and affording the completest of shelters to 

 gardens and houses. 



• 



448. With regard to the mode of propagating this famous 

 tree, it can only be done from the acorns. I raised some 

 from the acorns last year, but they were very few in 

 number. One gentleman had them all; and perhaps he has 

 more trees of the Live Oak than all the rest of the people 

 of England put together, seeing that I think he has about 

 two thousand. The acorns are sowed in the same manner 

 as directed for the sowing of the acorns of the common 

 Oak ; they attain the height of from five to seven inches 

 the first summer, and then they ought to be removed into 

 a nursery, in the manner directed for the Red Cedar. But 

 they need not stand two years in the seed-bed, like the 

 Red Cedar. They must be taken out of the seed-bed with 

 the greatest care ; but, as to the removing of these trees, 

 turn back to, and read with great attention, paragraph 215. 

 The Live Oak ought to stand two years in the nursery, for 



