74 



A DISCOURSE- 



BOOK I. Charles the Second) to be inclosed with a pale, as I find it mentioned in 



the last edition of JNIr, Camden's Britannia : also another before this, 

 which his grandfather. King James, went to visit, and caused benches to 

 be placed about it, which giving it reputation, the people never left 

 hacking of the boughs and bark till they killed the tree ; as I am told 

 they have served that famous Oak near White-Lady's, which hid and 



Quercus sempervirens foliis oblongis non sinuatis. Banist. Evergreen Oak, wiih oblong 

 leaves which are not sinuated. The live oak. 



This species grows naturally in Carolina and Virginia, where it rises to the height of forty feet. 

 The grain of the wood is hard, tougii, and coarse ; the bark is of a gray colour. 'J he leaves 

 are oval and spear-shaped, about three inches long, and one and a half broad, entire, and of 

 a dark green, standing upon short foot-stalks. Tliey are of a thick consistence, and continue 

 green all the year. The acorns are oblong and small, and are eaten by the Indians, who lay 

 them up in store for the winter. They also draw from them an oil, which is very good. 



Besides these fourteen species of Oaks, enumerated by Botanists, there is another de- 

 scribed under the name of the Lucombe, or Devonshire Oak. Of this new kind there is a 

 particular account given in the 62d volume of the Philosophical Transactions, in a letter 

 from Mr. Holwell to Mr. Campbell. The following extract contains all that we yet know 

 of this most surprising species : 



" About seven years past, Mr. Lucombe sowed a parcel of acorns, saved from a tree of 

 " his own growth, of the iron or wainscot species ; when they came up, he observed one 

 » " amongst them that kept its leaves throughout the winter. Struck with the phienomenon, 



" he cherished and paid particular attention to it, and propagated, by grafting, some thou- 

 " sands from it, which I had the pleasure of seeing, eight days ago, in high flourishing 

 " beauty and verdure, notwithstanding the severity of the winter. Its growth is straight 

 "and handsome as a fir, its leaves evergreen, and the wood is thought, by the best judges, 

 " in hardness and strength, to exceed all other Oak. It makes but one shoot in the year, 

 " viz. in May, and continues growing without interruption : whereas other Oaks shoot 

 " twice, viz. in May and August ; but the peculiar and inestimable part of its character is, 

 " the amazing quickness of its growth, which I imagine may be attributed (in some degree 

 " at least) to its making but one shoot in the year ; for I believe all trees that shoot twice 

 " are for some time at a stand before they make the second. I had the curiosity to take 

 " the dimensions of the parent tree, (seven years old,) and some of the grafts ; the first 

 " measured 21 feet high, and full 20 inches in the girt; a graft of four years old, 1 6 feet 

 "high, and full 14 inches in the girt ; the first he grafted is six years old, and has outshot 

 " its parent two feet in height. The parent tree seems to promise his acorns soon, as lie 

 " blossoms, and forms his foot-stalk strong, and the cup ujon the foot-stalk with the appear- 

 " ance of the acorn, which, with a little more age, will swell to perfection. Tliis Oak is 

 " distinguished, in this country, by the title of the Lucombe Oak ; his shoots in general 



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