CHAPTER XIX. 
THE AMERICAN LIVE OAK TREE ( Qitercus virens) 
This tree is of very moderate dimensions when com¬ 
pared with the White Oak, its usual height being only 
about 35 to 45 feet, with a diameter of 12 to 18 inches. 
It is an evergreen, and is found principally in the 
Southern States of North America, and near to the 
sea-coast, which it seems to prefer to the more inland 
and sheltered situations. 
The wood is dark brown in colour, hard, tough, 
strong, heavy, and very difficult to work, on account of the 
grain being waved or twisted. Its pores are very minute 
and the medullary rays unusually bright and distinct. 
The largest logs of live Oak that I have seen im¬ 
ported did not exceed about 18 feet in length by 12 
inches square, and generally they were of much smaller 
dimensions. They are usually of a crooked or compass 
shape, and are, therefore, very suitable for the framing of 
ships of from 300 to 800 tons burthen, in which only 
small scantlings are required. It is used extensively for 
this purpose in the Southern States; it makes good 
mallets for carpenters, and would be useful for cogs in 
machinery, and many other services where great weight 
is not an objection. 
Judging from the appearance of this timber, it is 
stronger than any other known Oak, but, as it was im¬ 
possible to obtain a single straight specimen of the 
prescribed dimensions, viz., 2 X 2 X 84 inches, the usual 
tests could not be applied, and there are consequently no 
tables to show what it would actually bear. 
