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

Nature Is wonderful study TO me-
and it looks like the older l grow the
more mysteries discover. I have been
clearing a piece of forest land where
there are large red oaks, and some post
oaks and here and there pine. There
is small under growth OF oak, and hick-
ory, and crab-apple, and red haw, and
suur-wOod ard b!ackgum. The large old
trees seem to be all about the same age,
and when | count the rings after they
have been cut down I find that they
average about a hundred years. Now
what kind of & forest was upon this land
before these old trees came 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 up?
Do forests come and 90 in platoons, or
are trees always coming singly? If you
90 into the pine woods you can travel for
miles and find no under growth, and all
the pines are pretty much alike in size,
and aye. Where the land is the same,
the timber is the same. What grnwth
preceded this, or was the land a prairie ?
DeSoto marched through this country
from the Atlantic to the Mississippi more
than 800 years ago, and carried tents and
baggage for 600 men. If this country
was then a wilderness Of trees, with no
clrarings and no roads, how did he get
along?
II we 60 down upon the uncleared
river bottoms we see tall white oaks, and
elms, and poplars, all grand and green,
and no sign Of decay. No old ones
dying, no young ones stretching up, but
the forest seemsa uniform thing; single
creation Of nature, and have wondered
at it. 1t is all mystery.
There ale twelve different kinds of
oaks on my farm: The white, the black,
the red, the post, the water the willow,
the chestnut, the spanish, ard four others
whose names | do not know; but they
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 if any body knows? l know
that sasafras makes good bows, and sour
wood good arrows. | know that white
and spanish oak is good wagon timber
and ash is good for shafts, and plow
stocks. and post oak and chestnut are
good for posts, and dog-wood and per-
simmon, are good for guts. If you will
cut green persimmon and put it in a
wise and saw out your gluts and let them
dry and season, they will MAKE The best
wedges in the world, and will split timber
like iron and outlast dog wood or any
other wood.
They tell me that black locust will
outast any wood in the ground. butnabor
Freeman told me that his grandpa put a
young round chestnut post in the ground
to hang gate 10, more than IS years
ago and it WAS there yet; but on cross
examination l found that his grand pa
settled the place in 1910. He explains
the difference by saying that lie built the
gate long before he settled the place.
But there are all sorts of shrubs, in my
low grounds and glades, that | don't even
know the names OF. My old nabors are
no wiser than l am. There are three
different shrubs that different people call
"seyen bark" and neither of liem have
that many barks that can De separated.
There is long corral growth like Scotch
broom with yellow flower and glossy
red limbs that borders the creek and acts
as a break water that | never SAW else.
where, and nobody knows the name Of.
1t grows about as high as my head, and
is almost impcnetrabie to Il dog or a
rabbit, and is still green but is not an
evergreen.
Then there is the "father graybcard," !"
which is Il good name for it, but not the
true one and which my father had IL
respect for, for he was the first man who
ever sold A. @. Simmons Liver Medi-
cine, and he said the first medicine was Il
powder put up in brown papers and tied
with coarse twine strings, and it was
made of "father graybeard' roots dried
and ground up in coffee mill. Ny
father sold them for The old doctor at ten
cents n package and it was good medi
cine as long rs the old man lived and
made it. But nobody knows what
Simmons Liver Medicine is made of
now. One thing is certain, there is not
enough gray beard in this country To
make one bottle in a thousand OF the
quantity that is sold. l know old people
who use the "giaybeard" root now Tor
chills and maariaI diseases, and | have
used it in my own family and we believe
in its virtues.
stood under a persimmon tree the
other day and observed number of
small limbs lying on the ground that had
been cut off of the tree and fallen.
Every one had the same cut or ring
where it was sevared. 1t looked just
like the limb had been turned off in a
turning lathe with a sharp tool held
edge ways, not exactly square down, but
very nearly so. Nobody can tell me
what kind of an insect cuts these limbs
off or why they do it. have found the
same limbs under the hicory trees cut of
precisely the same way, some Of the
limbs are as large as a thimbIe. There
is some explanation for this. The locust
splits a limb and deposits her eggs in the
crack, and when the eggs hatch into a
worm, the worm swings down to the
ground on its own web, which is fastened
to the limb. Well, looked all over these
little brusby limbs to find some cocoon
or some sign of a 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
catching from one to anoth7r, and is
travelling along slowly, but surely. A
few years ago they were young and
vigorous bnt | notice the first marks now,
and they always begin at the very top OF
the highest branches. | can find no
sign about the roots but of course that is
feeding at the root a few years after
the war, the chestnut trees all went the
same way; trees have their enemies just
like man and beast.
| used To think that the mistlelne was