Evening star., 1911-06-04

Win the tree und1sturbed. 1hen MI NO
bel cuts the twisted sapling down. tie
has perfectly spiraled cane, with nat
ural wood handle grown at right angles.
Treasured highly among the many
unique canes he possesses are four German
blackthorn sticks. as perfect examples of
this walking stick. says Mr. Nobel, as
any in this country. One is an especially
fine specimen. 1t is topped with buck
prong. The prong was part of the antlerS
of big buck shot in German forest by
one of the German officers during the
F'ranco-Prussian war The horns were
presented to Mr.. Nobels father.
Inducing nature to grow spines on
canes is another of Mr. Nobels favorite
tricks upon the old world mother. Armed
with many little pegs, larger at the bottom
than at the top. and small gimlet he
goes out into the woods to select his tree.
Then into the bark of the little sapling he
bores many holes and drives the little pegs
firmly into the holes. Then that operation
is complete. Whether she wants to or
not, old Mother Nature just has to throw
out covering of bark over those pegs.
and has four or five years hard work
making another cane for Mr.. Nobels col
lection.
This method is practiced largely. too, by
cane manufacturers who cannot supply
the demand for blackthorn canes in this
country, and manufacture them from
woods which resemble the Irish Ger
man thorn.
And from the dogwood tree he takes
his toll. 1t is a favorite plan of his to
insert a piece OF heavy iron wire In the
form of loop at the base of some dog
wood sapling. and years later return to
find the perfect semblance of a wooden
sword
Mr.. Nobel always watches his trees
No matter how dense the thicket or how
remote or how many trees he has max
ing canes for him. he never forgets a 10
cation and can go straight to it. In 1886
he wired little hickory tree out in
Rock Creek Park. In the fall a heavy
storm swept over WASHINGTON, uproot-
ing trees. and the spot in Rock Creek
Park where the little hickory was grow
to look for IT he could not find 1t. Ten
years passed Mr.. Nobel was walking
in that part OF the park again. hun
dred yards or more from its original place
he found his long-lost ping. 1t had
grown much thicker than he allows his
canes to grow ordinarily and was nearly
two inches in diameter, but he joyfully
cut 1t, and it stands In all honored place
in the collection today.
4 X
To describe all Of the collection Of canes
would be a .erculean task. But among
them is one made of a hawthorn bole
14th street and Park road. Another is a
cane made of the stalk of a giant wild
honeysuckle-the only one. as far as the
owner knows. in existence-and 1t has
perfectly formed natural handle, with
which Mr. Nobel had nothing to do. And
then there is the hickory cane which he
tended every night for eight years. He
found it in location which was soon to
be cleared. 1t was an unusually favora-
BILE tree for his purposes. so he carefully
transplanted it to his back yard, and
every night brought pals of water from
his brothers home. several squares away.
to keep 1t hourishing.
Mr.. Nobel now has several canes grow
ing in his back yard and many others In
the woods. He keeps their location Sc
cret. When he goes forth. as he does
every Sunday and every holiday, to hnd
new canes for his collection he takes only
a pocket knife and pocket saw. with his
copper wire, and is continually finding
new trees on which to assist nature.