The Democratic advocate., 1898-03-26

edNeu, vi d caDln is Ill uanger, or maybe
the barn or outhouse of the owner himself
be threatened. Often the fire threatens
to reach to the turpentine still, with its
we'll filled barrels, and then even women
and children are put to raking for dear
life. Fighting fire in this way is all very
well as long as the fire is on the ground,
but when there is high wind blowing the
flames take their own way of frustrating
any plans devised to control them, and in
tense excitement ensues. Any building in
the path of the fire is given up for lost.
\ turpentine woods tract on fire is a
sight to be remembered The great trunks
that are full of sap and vigor are the last
to succumb, but the slender boughs at
their top are speedily in blaze Plumes
of orange and amber light dart upward as
the fire gains headway, and the flames hiss
and crackle gleefully as they leap from tree
to tree. The underground flames up fu-
riously one moment and dies down the next
as the fierce heat consumes the slender
| shrubs and bushes In the dense smoke
the tall columns of the pines look darkly
as through I mist, and the forms of the
negroes, with their rakes and pitchforks,
resemble uncanny spirits assisting at some
weird sacrifice. The air is filed with the
straining and swapping of limbs, and the
roar of the rushing flames. Now and then
giant tree comes crashing to the ground
as the fire burns through its heart, and
hollow logs and unsuspected crevices give
I Ia "a 81, ha
flames sport within them.
Just as the woods when on fire present
Il striking and impressive spectacle, SO their
appearance when the flames have died out
is melancholy in the extreme. The best
of the great, tall pines have stood the
ordeal, and although charred up to the
branches, the topmost boughs are green
and spicy, and emphasize the desolation
below. Many of the toughest shrubs and
scrub oaks are left standing likewise, but
everywhere is spread a carpet of ashes and
here and there column of smoke comes
up out Of the ground, where some light
wood stump is yet smouldering, the fire
having bmrowed in even to the roots.
In days when there were rules to guide
the negroes in every smallest detail, they
never dreamed of dropping fire about as
carelessly as they do now, said planter
who last year had his mill and Gin house
burned as the result of woods fire. ''They
were punished if careless in this respect,
and care was taken that they did not vio-
late the rules, either on their master
plantation or wherever they went visiting.
Since freedom, there being no rules for
them to stand in awe of, and not being
intelligent enough to foresee the results
that may attach to their careessness, they
do no end of mischief. \ negro will go
hunting and kindle fire either to sleep by
or for cooking, and walk off leaving brisk
blaze in his wake, to burn up maybe
mile of woods before the flames come to
some object that quenches them. If he
thought of it he would 'outen the fire, as
he calls it, but he doesn think; besides,
the negro does not value woods, anyhow.
He is paralyzed at the idea of house
burning. or fences OF stable, or mill, any
thing, in fact. Of material value, according
to his idea Of cost, but wood. where
things Just grow naturally and are renewed
each year. he does not consider as Of the
least consequence. He'll ring the trunk
of the finest oak in the country if it hap
pens to shade dozen stalks of his cotton
or corn, and I've seen a darkey blaze a
ring around Il magnificent walnut tree
growing on the roadside for the same rea-
SON He likes walnuts, but at the time
he destroys the tree that would give them
to him. 1t is springtime then, not walnut
| time Wild cherry trees, naples, sweet
gums, cottonwood, all are effaced from the
earth in like barbarous manner, unless
you keep after your tenants all the time
and expressly stipulate that the trees shall
be left on the roadside. The persimmon
is the only tree for which the negro seems
to have any feeling, and the only tree he
leaves standing in his field. That, [ pre-
sumo, is on account of the possum that
he is so fond of, and that he knows grows
fat on persimmons.
There are three fine oaks over on the
edge of that big cotton field back there,
he went on. ''You notice they are all
dying and yet have great affection for
fine tree, and have given orders time
and time again that those trees were not
to be interfered with. They are live oaks;
they have ample space to grow in, and
have rounded out on all sides in perfect
proportion. Two years ago a negro preacher
rented the lower part of the field, and
shortly after | noticed bIazed ring, hacked
breast high, about the trunk of the big
gest oak. | hauled him up about it, and
he made some excuse, promising not to
| touch the other two He carried out the
letter of my instructions, but not the spirit,
for YOU will see that fires have been kin
died at the root of each Of the living trees;
fires Just sufficiently hot to injure the bark
and cause it to drop off, and so ultimatel y
to kill the trees. OF course nobody knows
who kindled those fires Oaks like those
take years to mature, but they shaded Il
few dollars worth of that worthless preach
ers cotton land, and 50 lose my trees.
They were out of sight of the house, but
| always admired them, and | said not
few bad words when rode that way and
found them mutilated One of these days,
perhaps, when we get these people edu-
Gated, they will learn to value trees.
Nobody in the land loves the woods bet
ter or gets more out of it in the way of
hunting and fishing than the negro, and
yet he devastates them with ruthless
hand. Perhaps the old-time planters were
to blame for this, for they themselves
never valued their timber land, having SO
much of it, and always allowed their slaves
to cut down any tree they wanted to if a
possum lurked in it. The South is
spend-thrift regarding her forests and does
nothing to repair her prodigality. IF a
negro goes into the woods to split rails or