The Anderson intelligencer. [volume] (Anderson Court House, S.C.) 1860-1914, 1885-01-29
BILL ARP
Writes of the beauties of Nature.
Southern Cultiru,or.

NATURE is Il wonderful study tU nc
and it looks like the older l grow tn,
more mysteries | discover. I have beer
clearing piece of forest land wl,cr,
there are largo red oaks, and some post
OAKS and here and there n pine There
,'a small under growth Of oak, and bick
ory, aud crah.apple, and red haw. and
sour.wood and blackgum. The large old
trees seem To he all about the same arc
ana when count the rings after they
have been cut down | find thnt ,hey
average about hundred wears. Now
what Kind of forest WAS upon this land
before these old trees cams up. Was
there any? If so, where are the stumps
or roots of those that died from old age
There is no sign Of any. Did the old
forest that preceded this all decay and
die at once, and this new one come On
10 forests come and 90 in pIa,oons, or
are trees always coming singly? II you
go INTO the pine woods YOU can travel for
miles and find no under growth, and NIL
thr pines are pretty much alike in size.
and aye. Where the land Is The same
the timber is the same. What growth
preceded this, nr was the land a prairie ?
DeS"to marched through this country
| from the Atlantic to the Mississppi more
| than 500 years ago. nnh carried tents and
| hag"nge for 600 men. II this Country
| was then wilderness Of trees. with no
cirarlngs and no roads, how did he pet
along? o.
II we go down upon the unccared
river bottoms we see tall white oaks, aud
esms, and poplars, all grand and green,
and no sign of decay. No old ones
uy'ng, no young ones stretching up, but
The forest seemsa uniform thing; single
creation of nature, aud have wondered
at It. II is all n mystery
There ale twelve different kinds of
oaks on my farm: The white, the black
| The red, tho post, the water, the willow
| the chestnut, the spanish, and four Others
| whose names do not know but thew
are distinct in form and leaf and acorns
! believe they all have their peculiar uses
| but we do not know much about them,
except the value Of two or three.
wonder 1T any body knows? know
that sasatras makes good bows, und sour.
| wood good arrows. know that white
aud spanish oak is guorl wagon timber
aud ash il good for shafts, and plow
stocks, and pos, oak and chestnut are
good for posts, and dog wood and pcr.
simmon, are good for glu,s. II YOU will
cut green persimmon and put il in n
wise aud saw out your giuts and let them
dry aud season, they will mako the bes,
wedges in the world, and will split timber
like iron and outlast dog wood or any
other wond.
They tell Inc that black locust will
outlast any wood In the ground. but nabnr
Freeman told mo that his grand. pa nut II
Young round chestnut pos. in the ground
q Iut ~.
ago and it WAS there yet but on cross
examination | found that his grand .pa
settled the place in 1910. He explains
The difference by saying thnt he built the
gate long before he settled the place.
But there are all sorts of shrubs. in nv
low grounds and glades, that don't even
know the names OF. My old nnbors aro
no wiser than | am. There are three
different shrubs that different people call
seven bark" and neither of them have
TINT many barks that can be separated
j here is long corral growth like Scotch
broom with IL yellow flower aud glossy
red limbs that borders the creek and acis
ns a break water that | never SAW else
where, and nobody knows the name Of
1t grows about rs high as my head. and
Is almost imprnetrnble to Il dog or a
rabbit, and is still green but IL not an
evergreen.
Then there il the "iathcr graybeard,"
which is good name for it, but not the
true ono and which my father had n.
respect Tor, for he was the first man who
ever sold a. q. Summons Liver Medi.
cine, and he said the first medicine was n
powder put up in brown papers and tied
with coarse twiuc strings. and j, was
made nf father graybear," roots dried
ana ground up in coffee mill. NV
father sold them for lilo old doctor at ten
cents " package and it was good medi.
cine as long as the old man lived and
made it. But nobody knows what
Simmons Liver Medicine il made of
now. One thing fs certain, there il not
enough graybenrl in this country To
make one bottle in thousand OF the
quantity that is sold. know old people
who use the "giaybeard" root now for
chills and malariaI diseases, and have
used it in my own family and we believe
in its virtues.
stood under persimmon tree the
other day and observed n number of
small limbs lying on the ground that had
been cut off of tho tree and fallen,
Every one had the same cut or ring
where it was sevared. 1t looked lust
like the limb had been turned off In a
turning lathe with sharp tool held
edge ways, not exactly square down. but
very nearly so. Nohody can tell me
what kind of an insect cuts these limbs
off or, why they do it. I have found the
same limbs under the hicory trees cut Off
precisely the same way, some of the
limbs are as large rs thimble. There
is some explanation for this. The locust
splits limb and deposits her eggs in the
crack, and when the eggs hatch into a
worm, tho worm swings down to the
ground on its own web, which Is fastened
70 the limb. Well, looked all over these
little brusby limbs to find some cocoon
or some sign of living animal or insect,
but there was none. 1t may be that the
insect took to the ground for preservation
as soon as the limb came down. Maybe
some OF your readers can tell us more
about it.
There is death going on among the
sycamores on my farm. 1t seems to be
catcbing from one to another, and is
travelling along slowly, but surely. A
ie" years ago they were young and
vigorous but notice the first marks now.
and they always begin Mt the yery ton of
the highest branches. I can find NO
sign about the root. but of course that IL
feeding at the root. a few years after
the war, the chestnut trees all went the
same way; trees have their enemies lust
like man and beast.
used TO think that the mistletoe was
harmless parasite, but know some red
oaks in the front yard of naboring
residence that are dying of mistleto. II
| has actually absorbed the life Of the trecs
and Is losing its own vitality for lack of