St. Tammany farmer. [volume] (Covington, La.) 1874-current, 1900-06-09
HAVE VEINS OF WATER.
Drisk ~ TaDDing Certain
KBnas Of Trees.

In many sections of the forest lands
of the south during the dry seasons
man may walk for many miles without
finding q stream of water or q spring
by which to quench his thirst. II, how
ever says the Memphis Scimitar, he Is
an experienced hunter and woOdsman
he will not have to drink water from
the stagnant pools in order to keep
life in his body. An experienced man
can hunt for days through such dry
tracts and yet experience no incon-
venience on account of lack Of water.
Nature has provided a means which is
only known to the initiated. Every
huntsman carries with him. when go
ing on q long hunt, small auger, by
which he can secure a refreshing drink
and water to cook with At any mo-
ment.
A cottonwood tree or a willow is the
well which the willy huntsman taps.
He examines each tree until he finds
what the woodsman calls ''vein." Ii
is simply an attenuated prOtuberance.
BY boring into this s'vein" stream OF
clear water will flow out. 1t is not sap,
but clear, pure water. The huntsmen
say that the water is better than the
average to be had from ordinary wells.
There is no sweetish taste about it, but
il has strong flavor of sulphur and is
slightly carbonated.
The reason for this phenomenon can
rot easily be explained, but that sup
ply of water can be contained in a tree
is not so surprising. The fact of its
flowing 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
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 extend to any great
depth into the ground.
Owing to the fact that water can be
obtained by tapping cottonwood and
willow trees. very peculiar testimony
was recently heard in case in the fed
eral court here. About 20 years ago, At
y
one of the islands which was formed by
the channel forking and surrounding
q large tract of land was deserted by
the stream ON the Tennessee side
Years afterward this land was claimed
by the man who owned property in
Tennessee adjoining the former is
land. His claim was that the island
had been washed away and that the
present land was formed by accretion.
Tho former owner, to prove that the
land had not been washed away, sawed
OF the top of a cottonwood stump tina.
was on the island and showed that it
contained 56 circles, or rings, begin
ming at the heart. His statement was
that ring was formed in the tree
every year, hence the tree was a sap
ling 45 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 1865, he had tapped a cot
tonwood tree for water and had put q
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 num-
Der Of rings from this plug to the bark
of the tree would be, in the year 1899.
"a, showing that . ring had been
formed for every one of the "a years
1t had been imbedded in the wood.
The tree was found and sawed up.
The plug was discovered and was dis
tant from the tree exactly "a rings. Al
though such testimony would not be
doubted by woodsman, it was not re-
ceived as evidence by the court.