The Vermont watchman. [volume] (Montpelier, Vt.) 1883-1911, 1899-11-08
Folklore About Trees.

Inc study OF FORESTRY Is Delng IaKen
up by women's clubs everywhere just
now, and a tree from any and every
point of view has come to have more
than usual interest.
Ghostly forms of antique cowboys
are said TO be seen dangling on moon
light nights from the lower branches of
the great white oak known since Revo-
lutionary times as the "Cowboy Tree"
which stand behind Tibbett's Hill in
Spuyten Duyvil. Certain it is that the
lower branches upon which many
marauding cowboy was hanged during
the Revolutionary War are all dead, as
if to prove the belief that limbs upon
which criminal were executed always
died.
Storm beaten and weather worn its
twisted branches, jagged roots and
thick bark tell of centuries of storm
and struggle and attest its accredited
age, 300 years.
A "withering glance" indeed must
Benedict Arnold have cast upon the
willow which, lifeless and unsightly,
remained for many years almost oppo-
site West Point, and upon which he is
said to have bent parting look when
fleeing along the river path to the Vul-
can, which bore him to England
sure sign, said the superstitious, that
the glance of a traitor will kill the
healthiest tree. Benedict Arnold is
said to have had passion for willows,
and to have been especially fond of this
particular tree.
A tree at Babylon, Long Island, is
thought to have died because Tom
Paine, the infidel, once sat under it.
The historic Where's pecan tree, near
New Orleans, never bore fruit after
General Packenham was wounded and
afterward buried beneath it.
The OAK, sacred of old to jupiter,
has been an object of veneration in
many lands, and among the Druids it
was considered crime to destroy one.
The famous grove of oaks at Dodona,
. in Greece, remained for 1000 years, a
place of worship. The rustling Of the
wings Of the sacred pigeons in the
branches and the whispering of the
leaves were interpreted by the priests
as responses to questions propounded
TO the oracle.
A superstition still needed by some
old farmers is that if the oak sends out
it's leaves before the ash produc-
tive season may be expected, but if the
ash precedes the oak a cold summer
and unproductive autumn will follow,
hence the following:
When the oak comes out before the ash,
You'll have summer OF wet and splash
When the ash comes out before the oak,
You'll have summer of dust and smoke.
As guide to protection in thunder
shower an old rhyme says:
Beware Of the oak, it draws the stroke;
Avoid an ash, 1t courts the flash;
Creep under thorn, it will save you from
harm.
Next to the oak in importance with
the people of the North was the ash
tree, which represented the great Earth
Tree Yggdrasil, whose branches
reached heaven, and whose roots
touched the neither world, while the
dew from its leaves gave life to all an
innate nature. The ash has always
been associated with many supersti-
tions. The even leaved ash was wont
to bring luck if invoked in these words
Even ash, do thee pluck
Hoping thus to meet good luck;
II no luck get from thee,
shall wish thee on tree.
The icelanders will not burn ash for
firewood, because they believe that
those who sit about such fire will be-
come enemies. From an old tradition
comes the following:
Burn ash wood green,
'Tis fire for queen
Burn ash wood scar,
Twill make man swear.
"Thunder nor fierce lightning harness
the bay" says an old poem, and the
whitening of the bay leaves was con-
sidered an omen of impending evil and
certain presage of death. The bay
tree is said to revive frequently, when
apparently dead, and from this it has
been at times regarded as an emblem
of the resurrection.
The sweet bay tree, or laurel, was sa
cred to Apollo, and in both Egypt and
Rome its leaves were used to decorate
the victors in games or in war. These
leaves are much used now in the cult
nary art, the practice having been Dor
rowed from the French.
The cypress, which is regarded by us
as an emblem of mourning and death,
has been from ancient times associated
with births, marriages and rejoicings
in the East. In the Grecian Archipel-
ago when daughter was born, grove
of cypress trees was planted by her
father as her future portion, dowry
which increased with her years. These
groves were known as daughters
dowers."
The oldest tree in the world, it ia