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 LIBERTY LIBRARY 401 other cattle, 940 sheep, and 2,472 swine. Capitol, Bristol. III. A S. E. county of Texas, bounded S. TV. by Galveston bay and the San Jacinto river, and intersected by the Trinity ; area, 1,600 sq. m.; pop. in 1870, 4,414, of whom 1,975 were colored. The surface is about equally divided between timber and prairie land. The soil along the Trinity is very fertile; elsewhere it is generally light and sandy. Stock raising is the chief pursuit. The Texas and New Orleans railroad traver- ses it. The chief productions in 1870 were 98,087 bushels of Indian corn, 21,896 of sweet potatoes, 1,881 bales of cotton, 9 hogsheads of sugar, 1,663 gallons of molasses, and 7,775 Ibs. of rice. There were 2,190 horses, 2,706 milch cows, 24,315 other cattle, 1,458 sheep, and 7,344 swine. Capital, Liberty. LIBERTY, a town and the capital of Clay co., Missouri, on the Kansas City division of the Hannibal and St. Joseph railroad, 3m. N. of the Missouri river, and 13 m. N. E. of Kansas City; pop. in 1870, 1,700, of whom 342 were colored. It occupies a healthy site, and is surrounded by a rich farming district abound- ing in coal and limestone. It contains a ma- chine shop, two woollen factories, two savings banks, a weekly newspaper, several schools, and six churches. It is the seat of Liberty female college, and of William Jewell college, both under the control of the Baptists. The latter institution was organized in 1848, and has a theological department. In 1873-'4 the whole number of professors was 9 ; of students, 127; volumes in library, 3,000. LIBOCEDRUS (Lat. libanus, frankincense, and cedrus, the cedar), a small genus of evergreen Libocedrus decurrens. coniferous trees, resembling the thiija or ar- bor vitae, from which it mainly differs in the structure of the small cones, the scales of which do not, as in thuja, overlap at the edges. Two species are found in New Zealand, two in the mountains of Chili, and one in the sierras of California, where it is abundant in some localities, but is seldom found at an elevation below 4,000 or 5,000 ft. Our species was first made known by the collections of Fremont, and was by Torrey named L. decurrens ; the bases of the small, acute, scale-like leaves being decurrent upon the stem in a manner which readily distinguishes it from other trees of similar appearance. It grows to the height of 120 to 140 ft., with a trunk 6 or 8 ft. in diam- eter, and perfectly free from branches for 80 to 100 ft. The wood, which is yellowish, is highly valued, and is regarded as even supe- rior to redwood in durability ; the Calif ornians call it "white cedar," a name which properly belongs to a very different tree. The bright glossy green of its foliage, and the graceful habit of the tree when young, make this one of the most ornamental of evergreens, and it would be in great request were its hardiness well established; it has proved hardy in the vicinity of New York, but not so at Rochester. Both English nurserymen and authors strangely confound this tree with thuja gigantea ; the two are readily distinguished by the character of the leaves already mentioned. The exotic species are less hardy than the Californians and, while they may prove useful in the south- ern states, are of no value to northern planters. L1BOURNE, a town of France, in the depart- ment of Gironde, 16m. E. N. E. of Bordeaux ; pop. in 1866, 14,639. It is beautifully situated at the entrance of the Isle into the Dordogne, which are respectively crossed here by large bridges, and on the railway from Tours to Bordeaux. It is well built, and contains a large square and fine houses and promenades. Among the various schools is one of hydrography. It has manufactories of woollen and other goods, ship yards and iron f ounderies, and an active trade in local products, particularly in wine, which passes for Bordeaux wine, though of very inferior quality. The port admits ves- sels of 300 tons, and was known to the Ro- mans. In the 13th century it was fortified by Leyburn, an English knight from whom its present name is derived. It was the princi- pal of the ~bastides or free towns founded by Edward I. at the highest point on the Dor- dogne suitable for English ships engaged in the wine trade, and at one time it seemed likely almost to rival Bordeaux. In the 16th century it was the focus of insurgent peasants, who were known as les guitres. The parliament of Bordeaux was transferred to Libourne on several occasions. LIBRARY (Lat. tibrariwn, a bookcase), a col- lection of books designed for use and preserva- tion ; also the repository of such a collection. Although the English word comes directly from the Latin, the Romans usually designated a library by the Greek word bibliotheca, which has been adopted into almost every cultivated language excepting the English. Libraries are probably nearly coeval with the art of writing. The oldest of which we have any record is