Phillipsburg herald. [volume] (Phillipsburg, Kan.) 1882-1905, 1885-10-10
FOREST TREES
Their Hold on Life ana ths oharaossristsos
oFehsir OIa Aes.

6nG 90 the September Hetr-7zii5f sl-zau1z
med the stumps Of two white oaks, and
the grave Of the third, which told this
singular story by elF6umstantisl evidence
so strong that it could not be doubted:
IN the year 1902 an acorn fell about one
and a half miles from where I am now
writing Rockville, Ind and by favor
able chance spEOuted and grew into an
I oak. In 1884 another acorn sprouted
about twenty f5etdistaut from it. lit may
/ have grown on the tree mentioned, as it
was then ninety-tWO years old. In 1871
q tornado rom the northwest blew
down a still older oak, which In it's fall,
struck against and greatly damaged the
top OF the one born IN 1902. There is to-
day the Well-maTked grave Of the fallen
giant, the dirt piled upon the southeast
side Of the hole, and q long depression In
the ground where the trunk fell and
rOtted, till not a Vsstige of it's wood can
! be seen to-day Though some traces Of
the bark Of the roots CAM This depres-
sion points to the stump Of the damaged
oak. The two younger had been freshly
cut down when examined them. Their
stumps we're about four feet across, and
there was not over an inch difference
between their dIameters, though ninety
two years difference in their ages. The
younger had e large, healthy top, no
broken or dead limbs, and it had put on
rings of growth from the beginning of
more than average size. The older one
had been injured in its branches by the
fall Of the still older one before men,
toned (in 1731), and fOrdfty-seven years
Lad put on very small rings or growth
(about twenty-five to thirty years TO the
inch instead of twelve to fifteen, as it
shOuld), when q new set of branches de-
Yeloped to take the place of the damaged
ones, and the rings began to increase in
size, and gradually attained to the aver
age. I examined their tops, which coin
cIded with what has gone before. There
were the peculiar knots In the top of the
older one, where dead limbs had TOtted
of and were healed over. ANY expert
timberman will readily recognize them.)
During this delay the younger oak caught
uD with the older one IN size. The size
of tree is a very uncertain indication of
its age.
In all the cases of the hundreds I have
examined Of the oaks (the oldest trees of
the forest L think, I never saw but one
that was here when Columbus discover
ed America. That one was by far the
largest ever saw, and was over 900
years old, about twice lineage Ofthe other
largest ones. / could not get its exact I
age, as it was so decayed near the heart
1 could not distinguish the rings. 1t was
between six and seven feet in diameter, |
and forked about sixty feet up, and each
fork was as large as the other largest |
trees. 1t was not sound enough to make /
good lumber, being what in this region /
is called doughty" q state between !
sCundness and rottenness. It had been /
down a year before examined it, being /
out Ofthe country when it was cut, so /
that it was very difficult to examine it. I /
have mislaid my memorandum Oft, but |
It would be about as follows: At the age /
of 200 years 1t had some iil-fOrtun6 which /
caused it to form about 100 small rings !
It then regained its health, and formed /
normal rings for about 40 years, when 1
another mishap caused small rings till /
within the last fifty years, when it was /
putting on fair gTOWths again. The tree
was about one and q half miles from /
Rockville, Ind, and was noted among 4
hunters and WOOdmen. 1t was a dis
agreeable, shOwery day when 1 ezamin-
ed it, and for that reason 1 did not ex-
anime its top to see if dead and lost and /
healed over limbs conceded with the |
small rings, but have often done so in /
other cases, and found them to coincide. /
Last May (19S4) I examined a syCa-
more and water elm In the Wabash |
river bottom. the former six feet In III
ameter, and the latter five, each $50 years
old. They stood about $50 feet apart
They were standing on the upper end of /
q newly made bottom mean new as /
compared with the higher and older bot
toms a little more inland from the other,
say 200 years Oid.) This was the largest
sycamore L ever saw that was sound to
the heart. I have seen hollow ones
nearly eight feet in diameter. This tree /
seems never to have met with any mis-
hap till the log man came along, as the
rings of growth are unusually large.
These trees very probably sprOuted
twelve to fifteen feet below the present |
surface of the bottom. They generally /
begin life on the lower end OfTivAr sand
bars, and as sedimentation builds up the
surface, they pun ont new surface roots /
at every two or three feet of elevation.
Such trees, with their several SETS of sur
face root, are often seen in DRIFT piles,
and also still standing on the verge of q
steep river bank where one side is eX-
posed by the erosion Of the river. Their
roots are often hollow, like their trunks,
the hollow land root tool decreasing in
diameter downward until it terminates
in a point. like q cone standing on its
point. In the southwest corner of this
county, Is a hollow cottonwood stump on
what is nov a high bottom of the Wa
bash in which the hollow extends down
ward twelve feet. Mr. Joseph j. Daniels,
an intelligent observing man, on whose
land it stands, told me so. Such sitting
up over the surface roots, would Kill
most of the upland trees. or those that
grow from the seed on the high bottoms
Describing the STOCK farm Of Mr. Nc
Cune. in Butler county, the FL Dorado
Times says: Four hundred Of the six
hundred acres in his farm are under
fence and the pigs have access TO plenty
Of grass and grow like weeds from the
start. All pig5 are 50 marked that mis-
81 HTu I
McCuue's herd is GIVE or Take" and h
Commando" both registered IN the
American Poland China record. BIc
Cune's -Sallien IS unequaIed a. q repre- i