Virginia : rebirth of the Old Dominion

26 VIRGINIAHow great was the size of the largest of these pines was indicatedin the necessity imposed, in 1612, on the ship Star, sent tothe colony for a cargo of masts, to reduce the length of forty ofthe eighty trunks which it was proposing to carry, before theycould be stored in its hold.It was said that, at least, one-fourth of the aboriginal forestswas composed of walnut trees, and the proportion of oaks wasstill greater. Many of these trees afforded plank twenty yardsin length, and two and a half feet square. Cypresses of extraordinarygirth and height were found in all the swamps ; and themulberry trees, in many spots, grew so thickly together thatthey formed extensive groves. The presence of ash was notedwith keen interest, as it held out the prospect of manufacturingsoap-ashes in larger quantities. The cedar too was interspersedwith other species of trees in all the woods, and its value as materialfor furniture was at once recognized.The sassafras coveredthe face of the abandoned Indian fields, and, owing to itsmedicinal qualities, was included among the earliest of the exportsfrom the colony. A somewhat similar purpose was servedby the balsam bush that grew in every brake.Other trees were the laurel, the locust, the tulip, the poplar,the sugar maple, the chestnut, the chinquapin, the crab-apple,the cherry, the plum, and the persimmon. The nuts of the chestnutwere found to be as pleasantly flavored as the nuts of thesame species of tree which were so much esteemed in Spain,France, and Italy. The fruit of the crab-apple, on the otherhand, was of inferior quality, but the fruit of the cherry treewas thought to be of extraordinary excellence. The clusters offruit on the limbs of the persimmon tree reminded the firstsettlersof ropes of onions, and they commented with undisguisedsurprise on its sourness, unless in the last stage of ripeness. Thisfruit was afterwards freely used in the manufacture of domesticbeer.Many of the colonists preferred the Virginian black raspberryto the English red. The bushes of the wild whortleberry