A MOLNTAIN TRAMP. 



581 



the land that they may produce, each after its own 

 kind. 



The Christmas season is near, much as this 

 weather beUes it. The green leaves and red berries 

 of the holly gleam from the hillside, while the gaunt 

 arms of the sycamore and the black-gum are fes- 

 tooned with mistletoe. Woe now to the mountain 

 girl who pauses in her walks abroad, for here is our 

 warrant plain, to catch and kiss her under every tree ! 



We have noticed, as we journeyed south, that the 

 mistletoe seems to have a special affinity for differ- 

 ent trees in different latitudes. A little further 

 north, in the Kentucky blue grass country, it will be 



and uncovering a cluster of these, both are laid in 

 the note-book beside some blossoms of the Jas- 

 minuni midiflorum, gathered from before the door of 

 a mountain cabin. 



Again in the saddle and riding on. The Colonel 

 points to the long, black gashes in the trunks of the 

 larger pines, and tells how the mountain people used 

 to gather turpentine here. Whether the industry 

 became unprofitable, or whether the people became 

 so opulent that they did not care to pursue it any 

 longer, he refrains from saying. The gashes in the 

 trees were cut about three feet from the ground, and 

 the gum collected as it would exude. The charred 



Fig. I. A Cultivated Cranberry Bog. — A Bit of Wild Marsh. 



found almost only on the wild cherry and the black 

 walnut ; but neither here nor there is it true to its 

 Druidical story, and one must go still further north, 

 across the Ohio, to find it where it is popularly 

 supposed to be most common, upon the oak. 



Along the face of an overhanging cliff we find the 

 rare English fern ; while the commoner, but no less 

 beautiful climbing fern makes green patches amid 

 the carpet of brown leaves. Looking still closer 

 down at mother earth, we find yet borne upon her 

 bosom — this sixteenth day of December, A. D. i88g, 

 some flowers of the delicate "Quaker Maiden," 

 or bluets, Houstonia cceriilea. Stooping to gather 

 them, we get the fragrant scent of English violets. 



appearance has been wrought by the fires which 

 run over the mountain periodically, consuming the 

 dead leaves and undergrowth, and which finds a 

 special affinity in these pitchy surfaces. 



Since this industry was abandoned another has 

 been taken up, which is followed, however, only in 

 the most desuitory manner ; for your true moun- 

 taineer does not cultivate the faculty of long and 

 continuous effort ! Now, when they stand in need 

 of cash or its equivalent to exchange at the stores 

 for such simple necessaries as are not produced by 

 themselves, they dig the roots of the ginseng and 

 yellow-root, with which these woods abound. 



The morning wears away without incident, and 



