Vernon County censor. [volume] (Viroqua, Wis.) 1865-1955, 1900-03-07
LORE OF THE WOODS.
WATER EXTRACTED FRoNTREEs
IN THE SOUTH.
he Experienced Sportsman Pro, ures
the Pure Drinking Fluid by Boring
Into Cottonwood and Willow Trees
Natural Wells of the Forest.


Ia many sections of the forest loads
of the south during the dry season a
man may walk for miles without find
ing stream Of water or Il spring by
which 10 quench Ahls thirst. Ii, how.
ever. he is an exf@Tenced hunter and
woodsman he willie \, have TO drink
water from the stag,Sl MT pools in order
10 keep life I his body.
Queer as it may seen, an experienced
man can hunt Cor days through such
dry tracts and yet experience 40 incon-
venience on account OF the lack of wa
Ter, Nature has provided means
which is only known to the initiated
Every old huntsman carries with him
when going on a long hunt small
anger by which he can secure n refresh
ing drink aud water. to cook with at any
moment
4 cottonwood tree or willow is the
well which the willy huntsman taps.
He examines each tree until he finds
one that hes what 4 woodsman calls a
vein Il is simply an attenuated pro-
taberGnce. By boring into this VEIN
stream Of clear water viii flow out.
1t IS not sap, but clear. pure water.
The huntsmen say that the water is bet
ter than the average to be had from
ordinary wells. There Is no sweetish
taste about 1t, but it has a strong flavor
Of sulphur and is Slightly earbonated.
The reason for this phenomenon can
not easily be explained but that a sup
ply of water can be contained in tree
Is not so surprising. The fact of its
lowing is the wonderful feature, show
Ing that it must be under pressure or,
in other words, that there is more at the
source of the supply When it is con
sidered that the trees furnish the water
In the dry season and that the ground
is literally baked it is the more remark
able especially when the roots of the
trees do not extend to any great depth
into the ground.
Owing to the fact that water can be
obtained by tapping cottonwood and WI
low trees, very peculiar testimony was
recently heard in a case in the Federal
court here About twenty years ago,
at Il certain point on the Mississippi
River one Of the Stands which was
formed by the cham rorking and sur
rounding a large trar. OF land was de-
serted by the streaA OH the Tennessee
side. Years afterward this land was
claimed by the nan who owned prop
erty in Tennessee adjoining the former
island. His claim was that the island
had been washed away and that the
present land was formed by accretion.
The former owner to prove that the
land had not been washed away. sawed
off the top of n cottonwood stump that
was on the islanG and showed that it
contained fifty-six circles or rings. be
ginning at the heart. His statement
was that airing was formed in the tree
for every year, hence the tree was a
sapling fifty-fiye years ago and was
consequently growing there thirty-six
years before the island became Il part
Of Tennessee.
In order to prove that ring was
formed every year he testified that
while hunting about twenty miles from
that place In 1868 he had tapped a cot
tonwood tree for water anu had put a
plug in the hole afterward 10 keep the
water from wasting. His theory was
that the tree iii its growth would have
covered up the plug and that the num-
Der of rings from this plug TO the bark
of the tree would he in 1899 thirty-four,
showing that a ring had been formed
for every one of the thirty -four years It
had been imbedded in the wood,
The tree was found and sawed up.
The plug was discovered and was dis
tant from the outside Of the tree exact
ly thirty-four rings.
Although such testimony would not
be doubted by woodsman 1t was no.
received as evidence by the court 49,
Memphis Scimltar