The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1894-07-01
A TREE WITH A TEMPER.
It Grows in Arizona Along With Ans
other That Gives Light.
From the New York Sun.

There are more queer things to the
acre in Arizona than in any other part Of
this wide land" said Col. Brace Dion, of
Houck S Tank, Apache county, land, ac-
cording to my idea, and | know pretty
near what queer things are, the queerest
thing in all Arizona is the tree that has
temper worse than a blonde comic opera
prima donna's, and gets its dander up
with just as small prOvocatiOn. They
tell me out there that this tree belongs
20 the coniferous species. 1t grows
to be something like twenty-five
feet high and then stops. It's leaves are
long, slender and pointed, like porcupine
quilts. When this tree is in good humor
these leaves lie close to the branches, and
1T spreads pleasant aromatic odor all
around. But when it is angry every leaf
on the tree rises up on end, and the aspect
of thaC particular piece of timber is about
as fierce and threatening as anything you
would care to look at. The pleasant
resinOus odor the tree sent forth in its
peaceful mood gives way to an odor that
will put wings on you feet to place as
much distance as you can between the
offensive tree and yourself.
This tree is especially touchy on the
subject of dogs, and the coming Of ca
nine anywhere near it will instantly make
it furious. Yet wolf, a grizzly bear, or
q mountain lion never ruffles the temper
of this tree if those animals do not pre-
sumo on too great familiarity with 1T.
They may lie around it as long as they
care to, but if one of them 50 far forgets
itself as to rub or scratch the trunk OF
the tree, the hOt-tempered thing will iiy
into one of its tantrums instantly, and IN
| way Mr.. Bear, Wolf or Lion will max
himself scarce in those parts is Who'll
/ v,W1p h
tree up to concert pitch, though, so
quickly and effectually as throwing stones
| at it. Then it Gill actually rip and tear
! and no living thing would think of going
within gunshot Of it. Some folks out al
Houck's Tank call this tree the pOrcu-
pine tree, and some say its right name IS
skunk tree. l call it the holy terror tree.
But no matter what you call 1t, it is
queer Job of nature and Arizona claims IL
as her own.
While this tree is the only real gen
uine Gov Waite sort of vegetable king
dom crank we've got in Arizona, epOln6
with some more pride to another tree
that only Arizona soil has the talent TO
produce This one is the electric l1ght
tree This tree is not as abundant as the
holy terror tree. and is a dwarf, seldom
having the courage to get more tnah
twelve feet high. Its foliage is very
dense, and at night it CLEANS like an arc
light. The light that shines from this
tree is 80 strong that one may sit twenty
| five feet away and read fine print Inc
{ queerest point Of the tree is that us
! light begins to grow dim with the
coming of the new moon and steadily
! loses brilliancy until the moon is run.
| Then the tree is as dark as a mine. When
the moon begins to wane the trees luml-
Mostly is renewed, and by the time the
moon his disappeared the tree is shining
again as 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 to restore IL:
! We dronch it with bucketful or two OF
water and instantly the efulgent glow
will return in all its brilliancy."