The Somerset herald. [volume] (Somerset, Pa.) 1870-1936, 1894-09-12
A Tree With a Temper.

There are more queer things To the
acre i'm Arizona than in any other part
of this wide land" said Colonel Brace
Dion, of Houk's Tank, Apache county,
''and, according To my idea, and |
know pretty near what queer things are,
the queerest thing in all Arizona il the
tree that has temper worse than a
blonde comic opera prima dOnna's, and
/ gets its dander up with just a. small
provOcation- They tell me out there
that this tree belongs TO the cOniteroue
! species. Ii grows to he something like
- feet high and then stops Its leaves
are long, slender and pointed, like pOr-
cupine quills. When the tree i in q
good humor, these leaves lie close to
the branches, and il spreads a pleasant
aromatic odor all around. But when
il is angry every leaf on the tree rises
up on end, and the aspect of that par
ticular piece of timber is about ~ fierce
and threatening rs anything you would
care TO look at. The pleasant resinous
odOr the tree sends forth in its peaceful
mood gives away to an Odor that will
put wings on your feet To place as much
distance "a you can between the often
sive tree and yourself.
This tree is very touchy on the sub
ject of dogs, and the coming of canine
anywhere near il will instantly make
it furious Yet wolf, grizzly bear or
mountain lion never ruffies the tem-
per of this tree if those animals do not
presume on too great familiarity with
il. They may lie around it n long a.
they care to, but if one of them 80 far
fOrgets itself a. To rub or scratch the
trunk of the tree, the hot tempered
thing will fly into one of its tantrums
instantly, and the way Mr.. Bear, Wolf
/ or Lion will make himself scarce in
those parts is a whole circus to see.
Nothing will work This tree up 10 con-
cert pitch, though, 80 quick and effect
ually IL throwing stones at il. Then
il will actually rip and tear, and no liv-
ing thing would think of going within
gunshOt of il. Some folks out at
Houk's Tank call this tree the poreu-
pine tree, and some say its right name
i skunk tree. But, no matter, what
you call il, il is queer job of nature,
and Arizona claims il a. her own.
"While this tree is the only real,
genuine vegetab' e kingdom crank we've
got in Arizona we point with some more
pride TO another that only Arizona soil
has the talent to produce. This one is
the electric light tree. This tree is not
a abundant a. the holy terror tree and
is a dwarf, seldom having the courage
TO get more than Il feet high. Its fO-
liage i very dense, and at night il
CLEANS like an are light. The light
that shines from this tree j. ~ strong
that one may sit - feet away and read
fine print. The queerest point Of this
1 tree Is that is light begins L. grow dim
with the coming of the new moon and
steadily loses brilliancy until the moon
i full. Then the tree i u dark a. a
mine. When the moon begins To wane,
the trees luminosity i gradually re-
newed, and by the time the moon has
disappeared the trs i shining again a.
brightly as ever. Sometimes the light
[ on this queer tree becomes faint even
/ in the dark of the moon. Then we
have To do queer thing Ia restore il.
/ We drench it with a bucketful or two
of water, and instantly the effulgent
/ glow will return in all its brilliancy. "
/ Ne,c York .S,n