Edgefield advertiser. [volume] (Edgefield, S.C.) 1836-current, 1900-03-28
GOOD WATER FROM TREES.
Why woodsmen In the South Always
Garry an Aueer in Their Kit.

why woodsnen in the South Always
Garry an Aueor I'm Their Kit.
In many sections of the forest lanes
of the south during the dry seasons a
man may walk for miles without find
ing q stream of water or spring by
which to euench his thirst. If, how
ever, he is all experienced hunter and
woodsman, he will not have. to drink
water from the stagnant pools in order
to keep life in his body.
Queer as it may seem, an expert
enced man can hunt for days through
such dry tracts and yet experience no
inconvenience on account of the lack
of water. Nature has provided q
means which is only known to the in
itiatsd. Every old huntsman carries
with him, when going on long hunt,
a small auger, by which he can secure
q refreshing drink and water to cook
with at any moment.
A cottonwood tree or willoT is the
we'll which the willy huntsman taps.
He examines each tree until he finds
one that has what woodsman calls
"vein." 1t is simply an attenuated
protuberance. By boring into this
"vein" stream OF Gear water will
flow out. It is not sap, but clear, pure
water. Tho huntsmen say that the
water is better than the average to be
had from the ordinary wells. There
is no swestish taste about it, but it
has strong flavor Of sulphur, and is
slightly carbnoated.
The reason for this phenomenon
cannot easily be explained, but that
supply OF water can be contained in
tree is not SO surprising. The fact
of its flowing is the wonderful feature,
showing that it must be under pres
sure, or, in other words, that there is
more at the source of the supply.
When it is considered that the trees
furnish the water in the dry season,
and that the ground is literally baked,
it is the more remarkable, especially
when the roots of the trees do not e1-
tend to any great depth into the
ground.
Owinr the fact that water can be
obtained " tapping cottonwood and
willow trees, very peculiar testimony
was recently heard in case in the
federal court here. About 20 years
ago, at certain point on the Missis.
sippi river, one OF the islands which
was formed by the channel forking and
! surrounding large tract of land was
deserted by the stream on the Tennes-
see side. Years afterward this land
was claimed by the man % owned
property 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 been washed away, sawed off
the top of cottonwood stump that
was on the island and showed that it
contained 56 circles, or rings, begin
ming at the heart. His statement was
that a ring was formed in the tree
every year, hence the tree was a sap.
ling 55 years ago, and was consequent
ly growing there 36 years before the
island became part Of Tennessee.
In order to prove that ring was
formed every year he testified that
while hunting, about 20 miles from
that place in 1866, he had. tapped o
cottonwood tree for water, and had
put plug in the hole afterward to
keep the water from wasting. His
theory was that the tree in its growth
would have covered up the plug and
that the number of rings from this
plug to the bark of the tree would be, in
the year 1892, 81, showing that ring
had been formed for every one of the
81 years it had been imbedded in the
wood.
The tree was found and sawed mp.
The plug was discovered, and was dis
tant from the outside Of the tree ez-
actly 81 rings.
Although such testimony would not
be doubted by woodsman, it was not
received as evidence by the court