The county record. [volume] (Kingstree, S.C.) 1885-1975, 1897-10-14
ARP TALKS 70 THE BOYS.
He Tells That knowledge Of Every
thing is Essential
HE ALSO ADVISES OBSERVATION
Informs Them What Trees Are Best
for Uses to Which They Are fuI.
Other Good Advice.
Here is a letter for the boys.

l.
knowledge ofmany callings renders a
man happier than perfection In any one
and comparative ignorance OF all the
rest. Great scientists, discoveries and
inventors seem to be necessary for the
worlds progress and the good OF man
kind, but their work is generally at the
EXPENSE of their health and happiness.
Sir Isaac Newton in his last days ex-
claimed with sigh, 81 have made
slave of myself. " His great mind was
always on strain in one direction. 1t
is said of him that he had hole cut In
the lower part of the door for his favor
lie cat to enter ind exit, and when she
lad pair of kitten he had two smaller
holes cut for them. The mind is like
the body. It must have variety OF
fsod. 1t is like the muscles in the arms
or legs. If only one set are used the
others become weak and will gradually
perish away.
1 was talking not long ago to learn.
ed Judge, man of fine Judicial mind
and literary attainments, but who ac-
knowledged his very limited knowledge
of nature and natures laws. II hardly
know one tree from another, " said he,
excepting, of course, the chestnut,
hickory nut and walnut. Yes, of course,
! know the pine and the oak. Indeed
L have never had any occasion to know
more for l was raised in town and
books have absorbed me-"
Twas ruminating about this because
our little girls mother is teaching her
to draw and to paint, and asked her
to draw me chestnut tree, an oak tree
and maple tree. She is working on
them now and has to 60 out and look
at them and examine the bark on the
trunk, and the shape of the limbs and
the leaves. wonder how many boys
and girls can draw hickory leaf with
out looking at one I should like to
see their specimens Thousands Of boys,
especially country boys, know all the
common trees of their neighborhood
but it requires close and careful obser-
vation to describe them and point out
the difference. Now there are ten diff
ferent kinds of oaks in this country,
but very few town raised people can
name half of them. Then there are diff
ferent kinds of hickories and pines and
ash and elm trees, besides the hack
berry, box elder, poplar, beech, locust
and cottonwood Eugene lie Hardy
was a very learned and scientific
Frenchman, but thought that American
cotton grew on the cottonwood trees
and that we gathered it by using lad
ders. 1t is said that Mr.. Jackson, of
Atlenta, is trying to introduce the lat
ter kind now and has got the trees up
to fourteen feet high.
The study of the trees and shrubs of
this Southern country is delightful
and instructive recreation for young
people, and 1 wish they would pay
more attention to it. OF course this
study requires some knowledge of bot
any. but that is easily acquired. This
kind of knowledge is more useful and
more comforting than college smat-
tering of calculus and comic sections
and rhetoric and logic. 1 do not be-
lieve there are ten men in Barlow
county who would know ginseng if they
were to see it. Not many more know
what is father graybeard or white ash,
the medicinal shrub from which old A.
Q. Simmons first made the original
Simmons liver medicine in Gwinnett
county. I know about that. for when
I was a young merchant sold the first
he ever made and continued to sell it
for him for several years and he told
me what it was made of. l thilk,
though, that the father gray beard gave
out about the time the old man died.
Iwish that our young people would
acquire habits of observing things more
closely as they journey along through
life. Seme people see everything and
some see ncthing hardly. When should
trees be cut down that are wanted for
wood? What kind of wood iss the
strongest and will bear the greatest
burden? What kind is the most elastic?
What kind the hardest to split? What
kid will last the longeGt in the ground!
What kind most suitable for pianos,
chairs. furniture or wainscotlpg? What
kind for mauls or wedges or canes? DIR.
Oliver Holmes must have studied all
about these when he wrote the Zone
Hoss Shay.
$50 the deacon inquired Of the village folk
Where he could find the strongest oak
That couldn't be split nor bent nor broke;
That was for spokes and floor aud stills;
He sent for rlancewood to make the thills:
The crossbars wero ash from straightest
trees;
The ..anals we're white wood that cuts like
cheese,
And w. hubs OF logs from the settlers
elm."
But perhaps DR.. Holmes got it all
from some old honest wagon maker,
for thew know. I'll bet that Mr.. Brad
lev. of our town, can answer every
question. The boys ought to find out
that black locust and chestnut and
Usage orange make the best posts, and
black gum the best hubs, and persim-
mon the best wedges or gluts, and sas-
safras the best bows, and white oak
the best baskets. In Enkland it is
claimed that a yew tree post will last
longer than an iron one. The boys
ought to know that the barks of oil
trees are nonconductors of heat and
cold and keep them cool in summer
and warm in winter, and the green
leaves are the lungs that inhale the car
bon from the air and not only make