The Providence news. (Providence [R.I.]) 1891-1906, 1900-02-01
GOOD WAFER FROM TREES.


In many sections OF the forest lands
of the South during the dry seasons a
man may walk fof miles without find-
ing a stream of water or spring by
which TO quench his thirst If, however,
he Is an experienced hunter and woods
man ne will not have 20 drink water
from the staguant pools I'm order To
keep life in his body, says the Memphis
Scimitar.
queer as II may seem. an experienced
man can hunt FOR days through sueh
dry tracts and yet experience no IN
convenience on account Of the lack OF
water. Nature has provided a means
which Is only known to the initiated,
Every old huntsman carries with him,
when going on a long hunt, a small
augur, by which he can secure re-
freshing drink and water 10 cook with
at any moment.
A cottonwood tree or a willow is the
well which the willy hGntsman taps. He
examines each tree until he finds one
that has what a woodsman calls a
vein" II is simply an attenuated pro-
tuberance. BY boring into this vein a
stream of clear water win now out. 1t
is not sap, but clear pure water. The
huntsmen say that the water is better
than the average 10 be had from ordi-
nary wells. There is no sweetish taste
about IL. but IL has strong favor OF
sulphur and is slightly carbonated.
The reason for this phenomenon cam
D.. L. -. .H... q NNtf a eli N.
ply OF water can be contained in tree
is not 40 surprising. The fact OF IS
flowing is the wonderful feature, show
ing that il mus. be under pressure or
i'm other words. that there is more at
the source Of the supply. When IL Is
considered that Tie trees furnish the
water i'm the dry season, and that the
ground is literally baked, IL is the more
remarkable. especially when the roots
OF the trees do not extend "a any great
depth into the ground
owing TO the fact that water can be
Obtained by tapping cottonwood and
willow trees. very ocular testimony
was recently heard In "A case In the
Federal court here. About twenty years
ago at a certain point on the Mtssis-
sippi river. one of the islands which was
formed by the channel forking and sur
rounding a large tract OF land was de-
serted by The stream on the Tennessee
side. Years afterward this land was
claimed by the man who owned prop
erty i'm Tennessee adjoining the former
island. His claim was that the islaud
had been washed away. and that the
present land was formed by accretion.
The former owner. 20 prove that tho
land had not been washed away, sawed
! off the top Of a cottonwood stump that
| was Oh the island and showed that II
! contained ffty-siX circles or rings, De-
4 ginning at the heart. His statement was
! that q ring was formed in the tre every
! year. hence the tree was a sapl'ng fiftv-
4 fiv- years ago. and was consequently
/ growing there thirtv-siX years before
/ the island becarie u part Of Tennessee.
! In order 10 prove that ring was
/ formed every year he testified that
while hunting. about twenty miles from
/ that place I'm 1855. he had tapped cot
| tonwood tree for water. and had put
| a plug i'm the hole afterward To keer
| the water from wasting. His theory was
| that the tree IN It's growth would have
| covered up the plug and that tie mum
! her az rings from this plug 10 the barb
of -le tree would be. in the year 1899
thirty-four. showing that a ring hat
been formed for everv one ~ the thir
tv-four wears Il had been imbedded II
I tho wood.
The tree was found and sawed no The
plug was discovered. and was distan
from the outside ~ the tree exactly
thlrty-four rings. "
/ Althourh such testimony would no
be doubted by a woodman. Il. was no
received as evidence by the court.