be an amusement to me, sufficient to compensate for the trouble. You may think this letter somewhat singular, and my request unreasonable, and founded on considerations which, as a man of business and official station, you can hardly act upon. Under the preemption act of Congress, I am entitled to a quarter section of land below the tract I purchased, having improved it in 1822, but I have never asserted my claim, which I might do if I were avaricious. It would relieve me from painful reflection if our contract could be remodelled so as to permit me to retain some ten or twenty acres with my improvements; or, if this cannot be allowed, to permit me, as an agent, to occupy the premises until the Government shall deem it necessary to dispossess me. If I could see any prospect of success in removing my trees any where else, I would not make the request, but, after the most diligent inquiry, I find it impracticable; and to see them perish or come to nothing is most painful to me.

With sentiments of great respect,

Hon. SAMUEL L. SOUTHARD.

I remain your most ob't ser'vt,
H. M. BRECKENRIDGE.

No. 2.

PENSACOLA, March 24, 1828.

SIR: Since I had the pleasure of writing to you last week, I have had the good fortune to find a spot which I think will answer, though not as well as that on Sta. Rosa, for the cultivation of the orange, as it is considerably further from this place. I am confident, from the warmth and generosity of your feelings, that some allowance will be made for the appearance of fickleness on my part, and for my foolish attachment to the trees and shrubs I have planted. I am aware that it will be inconvenient and troublesome to alter an arrangement already made. I must, however, solicit, as a particular favor, that I may be permitted to remain in possession until I can conveniently prepare a place for the removal of my trees. The present tenant, who was placed by my agent, has a lease for a year from last January.

If my wish could be gratified by an agency in the management of the plantation of live oak, it would be highly pleasing to me.

The ship-carpenter of the yard informs me that, in his opinion, the Government has had a great bargain in the live oak sold by Colonel White and myself. The plantation at the Navy yard has not, from what I can learn, been properly formed, no doubt from a want of knowledge. I learn that three bushels of the acorns were purchased from my former tenant, and that these have been planted, but so deep (nearly a foot) as to rot. In England the mode is to open a nursery, and, at the age of five years, to set out the oak; but here there is no need even of a nursery, for millions of young live oaks may be had, which may be transplanted with proper pains. The corporation of Pensacola has, this season, made an experiment of transplanting about two hundred, of the size of two or three inches in diameter, and about ten feet high, in the public places. If this be successful, it will show at once the practicability of forming plantations.

Nearly all the thickets in this country consist of young live oak, so thick that there is no difficulty of procuring them. This is a most interesting

subject, for this invaluable tree will certainly be lost if those which nature has planted be solely depended on for a supply. I think I could communicate valuable information on this subject. I will leave it to Colonel White, who is my agent to act for me in the business, and whatever he will do will be satisfactory to me.

I am, with great respect,

Hon. SAMUEL L. SOUTHARD,

Your most ob't serv't.

H. M. BRECKENRIDGE.

Secretary of the Navy U. S

No. 3.

Copy of a letter from the Secretary of the Navy to the Hon. H. M. Breckenridge, dated Navy Department, 12th April, 1828.

I have received your letter of the 21st ult. The law for the purchase has been made, and the circumstances of it explained to Congress. It does not, therefore, seem possible to alter it, but I do not doubt that a satisfactory arrangement may be made in other respects; and I will communicate with you as soon as time is afforded to decide what will be done with the reservation. In the mean time, be pleased to keep possession, and to use it so as to meet your own views, without injury to the improvements.

Will you express to me your opinion of the best mode of clearing out and planting the whole tract with live oak.

No. 4.

PENSACOLA, May 9, 1828.

SIR: I do myself the pleasure to acknowledge the receipt of your letter in reply to mine, on the subject of the sale of my property on Santa Rosa sound. I should have been much pleased to have retained my improvements, and regret that it is too late to alter the agreement, but return you my thanks for the disposition expressed to gratify my wishes in other particu lars. My fruit trees have attained such a size that it would be almost im possible to remove them, if a situation equally favorable could be found for the orange, the lemon, the almond, and the olive, which is out of the question. The inferiority of the situation was satisfactorily tried by the late frosts, which did considerable injury at Pensacola, while the most tender garden vegetables were not touched at Sta. Rosa.

I am much attached to the spot, having occupied it four or five years as a summer retreat from the visitations of yellow fever, which, it is to be feared, will become more frequent in Pensacola, as its size and importance increase. It continues to be my residence, and it is my chief amusement to take care of it, and even to add new embellishments.

As the court is now in session, my time will not permit me at the present moment to present my views on the subject of the contemplated reservation, but I will do so shortly. Nothing could be more agreeable to me than to be employed in putting the enlightened views of the Government in preserv

ing the valuable timber in the vicinity of this place. My official duties allow me sufficient leisure to devote the necessary time to the subject. I make the offer of my services without any expectation of emolument or compensation; and should any moderate compensation be deemed proper by the President, it will only be accepted by me in order that I may engage an assistant, who may be constantly on the spot when my duties shall require my absence at court.

I am, sir, with great respect,

Hon. SAMUEL L. SOUTHARD,

Your most obedient servant,
H. M. BRECKENRIDGE.

Secretary of the Navy U. S.

No. 5.

STA. ROSA, June 1, 1828.

SIR: In compliance with your request, I now communicate some of my ideas on the subject of the culture of the live oak, and the mode of employing the public land to be reserved at this place to the best advantage.

The live oak, quercus vivus, is one of the most valuable timber trees our country produces, and is unequalled for the frames of vessels. There is no wood superior, if equal to it, in strength, buoyancy, and durability. It is found, principally, south of latitude 34° along our Atlantic coast, but its favorite region is the southern part of the coast of South Carolina, Georgia, and of Florida; and in the latter, only, is it now found in sufficient quantities to be worth the attention of the Government. Michaud, the botanist, is of opinion that in the course of fifty or sixty years this valuable timber tree will entirely disappear, on account of the greatness of the demand for it, and the limited quantity to be found. The live oak tree, at a distance, has the appearance of a large apple or pear tree; its spreading and picturesque top, and delicate olive shaped leaves, of a deep shining green, render it extremely beautiful, and it is one of the most magnificent and delightful shade trees in the world. But it is not found in continuous forests of any extent, like other species of the oak; it loves solitary and detached situations. It requires a free circulation of air, and must have ample space to extend its prodigious horizontal branches. One of these branches, which I measured some years ago, I found seventy-five feet in length, and the extremity was so low that I could reach it from the ground. From this peculiar habit it rarely attains its full size any where except on the margins of rivers, and on the shores of the bays and sounds, and on the edge of the open ponds, but seldom extending any distance back, which I consider entirely owing to the being crowded by other trees, and, consequently, to the want of the proper space; for there are instances of beautiful groves of twenty or thirty acres on the coast of Georgia, where they have been nursed with care and allowed sufficient room to spread. Twenty or thirty trees to an acre are as many as ought to be allowed to remain, in order to come to full perfection, although they might be permitted to grow closer together for some purposes; but in order to form those curious and valuable crooks so much esteemed for knees or futtocks, breasthooks, and other timbers of vessels, it is necessary that they should be permitted to expand as much as possible. For

beams, stems, sternposts, transoms, breasthooks of upper deck, top timber and bow timber, &c. &c., it will be an advantage to grow somewhat closer, in order to form longer and larger bodies. But a vessel would require three or four hundred of the former; and for the others, except the beams, but a small number for each ship; but one stem and stern post is required, but those, in general, are in two pieces. Round young live oak, of six or eight inches diameter, is, I believe, of very little value, even for merchant vessels. The live oak is naturally inclined to spread, as is in fact the case with most trees growing in a deep, loose, sandy soil, while in a rich and fine loam they shoot up into tall and vigorous stems, with short lateral branches. It is on account of its requiring so much space that in the natural forests these trees are rarely met with in groves of more than fifty or a hundred, and that usually in some narrow point of land, with an open space or water on each side.

When the live oak is cut down it is not destroyed, that is, the stump does not rot or die; and even where the roots are dug up, (and I am told they are the most valuable part of the tree,) like the chesnut or locust, the roots that remain in the ground, or the stump of the tree, send up vigorous shoots, of such rapid growth as to form large trees in a third of the time which was required by the parent stem. Under favorable circumstances, fifty or sixty years from the acorn I should think sufficient for a live oak to attain its growth. Some of the finest trees I have seen are found on the ruins of the old forts and villages in the Tallahassee country, frequently growing out of masses of bricks; and, as those settlements were destroyed in 1706, we may fix with certainty the longest period which it requires for them to attain their present enormous magnitude. These trees have evidently been in a state of decay for half a century, owing to the close forests of other trees, which have grown up around and overtopped them. They at first, no doubt, occupied open spaces, and to all appearance must have attained their present size in fifty or sixty years. The live oak, being an evergreen, does not show its age by the concentric circles, for it grows in winter as much as in summer. I should think that a tree of fifty years old from the acorn ought to be fit for most uses in shipbuilding, although, after it attains a certain size, its progress is more slow, especially if deprived of the necessary space and air. I have examined a tree growing in a yard near Pensacola, the trunk of which is now at least two feet in diameter, and which the owner told me was so small twenty years ago that he bent the two principal limbs with his hands, and fixed them with stakes, so as to give them a particular inclination. In the neighborhood of Charleston, I have seen noble trees, which, I was told, had been planted about fifty or sixty years ago; and a number of young live oaks which I found growing around the spot where I built my house, have increased at least one-third in size within six years, from being carefully pruned and freed from the encroachment of other trees. I can, therefore, speak with the confidence derived from experience on the advantages of nursing the trees which we find already set by the hand of nature; for they often have the advantage of a root a hundred or perhaps five hundred years old. In the neighborhood of a live oak grove, there are always thickets of young trees, which have sprung from the acorn, or from the roots of trees cut down or gone to decay. These thickets are so close as to form impervious hedges, and it is to such places I: should look for plants to set out elsewhere, or to thin out and cultivate as they grow. The only use in planting acorns is to form nurseries, and here are natural nurseries of millions of young trees from five to fifteen years old.

I am acquainted with no forest tree that improves more rapidly by attention and care than the live oak; and those which have been nursed as shade trees are universally found more valuable than those which grow spontaneously, particularly as to the soundness of the timber; owing, principally, to their roots being kept clear from the collection of bark and litter, which have a tendency to cause rotten places at the foot of the tree, or to afford material for the fires which occasionally pass through the woods.

The pruning the lower limbs, also, when they show a tendency to decay, must contribute much to preserve the trunk sound; and in the young trees this operation is indispensable, where it is desirable that the trunk should be long-the live oak being naturally inclined to form very short trunks, not more than six or eight feet before it is lost in large branches. In fact, by proper pruning, the tree could be made to assume almost any shape; and crooks and smaller pieces might frequently be lopped off without any very material injury to the tree. An old Spanish ship-carpenter, who had not been at this spot for ten or fifteen years, expressed his astonishment to me the other day at the appearance of the large live oaks here, which he told me, within his recollection, had almost been stripped naked of limbs for crooks, but they had since formed others of such a size as scarcely to show where they had been cut. The dead trunk of a live oak will stand half a century without decay, and the place where a limb has been cut off will look perfectly sound for years; in fact, the wood appears almost incorruptible. In situations not favorable to the growth of the tree, it will no doubt remain a long time without making much progress. Moist situations, in general, suit it best. Some of the finest I have seen grow on the edge of ponds, where their roots must have been continually in water; and even where they grow in high situations, I have found, in digging wells, that their roots had penetrated twenty or thirty feet in pursuit of moisture.

Having given this brief sketch of the natural history of the live oak, I shall proceed to the subject to which you have been pleased to call my at

tention.

This point or tongue of land is certainly the most advantageous that could possibly be selected for the purpose of making a fair experiment of the cultivation or preservation of the live oak. The weight of the wood is so great that it will not bear land transportation but for very short distances. The plantation ought, therefore, to be near the coast; and being in the immediate vicinity of the navy yard, the value and adaptation of almost every tree could be known. On this narrow peninsula, the land transportation. need not exceed three quarters of a mile. At present, live oak has to be cuiled and collected from a variety of places at a multiplied cost; whereas, by having a large plantation, every kind of timber might be met with in a small space; and this spot being so completely detached, and without inhabitants, it will be readily placed under the complete control of the Government. For at least fifteen miles to Williams's creek, it is in spots of several hundred acres, already thickly set with young live oak, as well as occasional groves of pine trees; and there are many tracts of five hundred or a thousand acres of low, open, moist pine woods and savannahs, where the experiment of planting may be made at small expense, for they will neither require enclosing nor clearing. This point also abounds with a very valuable yellow pine, remarkable for the fineness of its grain and freedom from sap, and which would be valuable for many purposes in shipbuilding. The first consideration, and that which should precede any other, is the expendi