Northern Wisconsin advertiser. [volume] (Wabeno, Wis.) 1898-1925, 1906-04-05
TERRIBLE DEVASTATION
Young sapIinss Invariably the Worst
Sufferers-The Case of Wild
Cherry That Preferred Nature as a
Physician-The Faithful Mayfiower
and Piebian Dutchman's Brooches.

lings, even while it protected with
downy coveilid the delicate ground
plants from the ruinous alienation
of frost and thaw. The hemlocks
have suffered most, chiefly on account
OF their situation, for they love to
grow in precarious positions, at the
edges of precipices on steeply sloping
hillsides and on fiat rocksurfaces,
where their roots must seek far and
wide for foothold, and where the
pyramidal trees, with their dense TO
liage, have no central anchorage in
the shape of taproot, and are blown
over, still gripping the soil with te-
nacious root-cables. One of these cap
sized trees for years has been grow
ing uncomfortably, but with laud-
able attempt toward symmetry and
beauty, upside down, in the position
of balustrade along a stone stair
case, it's apex at the bottom of the
| fight.
All through the woods, hemlocks,
too big to set up again, are lying
prone on the tops of other trees;
smaller ones we can straighten up.
and set firmly on their fat rocks
again, guyed to nearby trees on the
windward side. and they will doubt
less be encouraged to continue their
placid existence. Even peach tree
has been treated this way after a win
ter's devastation 1t still leans on its
crutch of a forked stick. against
whose necessary constraint it con-
stantly chafes, and seeks to heal it's
self-imposed wounds by an unguent
of sticky gum.
We carried through successfully a
still more serious surgical operation.
A certain wild red-cherry tree grows
on ledge, its top being level with a
favorite outlook. One can gaze direct
ly into its exquisite slender mass Of
bio6m, that most resembles an ivory
1 tinted Ostrich plume, waving against
tapestried background of gray-green
poplars, the old-pink budding foliage
of rocl-oaks, the deeper crimson twigs
and budsscales of the striped naples,
and the olive-green bark of the lat
ter, with fine longitudinal stripings
of white pigment, never so fresh and
striking and unpleasantly reminiscent
of garter snakes, as now.
| Unfortunately, this artistically
placed cherry was nearly severed at
/ its base by clean stroke of the axe
At least ten years would be necessary
to grow another sapling of equal
height and symmetry from the stump
so that without much hope OF success
we attempted to cure its injury. A
crotched stick (our ever present aid
for the injured), its butt proppe /
against the cliff face, held the undam-
aged side in its jaws, and prevented
the dropping tree from falling that
way, while rope tied around a bun
die of bark splints and attached to a
ledge below, secured the cherry on
this side and closed the slanting
wound by the weight on the tree 1t.
| self. This spring we found that the
cherry had ceased to sway uncertain
| ly between rope and stick; had over
come its desire to lean on neighboring
tree tops, and was standing erect and
studded with fiower-buds. Under the
splints the beneficent gum has salved
the gaping wound.
| Although the SHOWS have done so
much natural pruning in the woods,
bearing down dead limbs and weak
lings, spreading hemlock sprays like
carpet, and even breaking off guam
titles OF brittle laurel, the arbutus
has never been so luxuriant in the
sheltered hooks of the terraced hill
sides. looking west. 1t is a curiously
| localized plant, as much so as the
fringed gentian, and is being rapidly
exterminated wherever its haunts are
known. BY a stroke of good fortune,
| find many patches of it in my small
domain; one. IN fact, is on a messy
bank. between the two levels of my
garden.
II is interesting to see how that ar
butus, with little care. and occasion
al doses of wood ashes. has spread
and given rich bloom, which l cut
only sparingly and with apologies, as
an Indian might beg pardon of his
totemic animal. before killing him.
The wilder colonies, outside of the In
definite margins of my garden plot,
seem to have. in common with other
shrubby plants. an of year,-a year
when bloom is only scanty-but the
semi-civilized plants know no such
seasons. Although the arbutus is con.
sidered TO be difficult shrub to trans
plant, il has an amazing vitality in
It's original stations. Nearly every
patch at Rimrocks has at some time
been burned over. and one was In
adsertently buried under fire Of
many hours duration-one of the
great fires we burned while clearing
where freshly cut treesops, yet rust