Jan. 7, 1899.] 
rOREST AND STREAM. 
9 
irons, which bent at the corners under the enormous 
pressure of two and a half tons, and consequently broke 
through the rind of the squash. It was not feasible to re- 
move the harness and substitute for it a stouter one. on 
account of its being imbedded in the substance of the 
squash, which grew up through the meshes of the har- 
ness, forming protuberances i^in. high and overlying 
the iron bands. When, on Nov. 7, the harness was re- 
moved, in order to take a plaster cast of the squash, it 
was necessary to cut the straps with a cold-chisel, some- 
tmies into several pieces, and draw them out endways. 
The growing squash adapted itself to whatever space it 
could find as readily as if it had been a mass of caout- 
chouc, nor did it ever show the slightest tendency to crack, 
except in the epidermis. This would often open in 
mmutc seams, from which a turbid mucilaginous fluid 
exuded. In the morning, drops of this would frequently 
FIG, 4. 
bedew the protuberances, like drops of perspiration. In 
the sunshine these dried up and fell off as minute globules, 
resembling gum-arabic. 
The lifting power was greatest after midnight, when 
the growth of the vine and exhalation from the leaves was 
least. 
The material out of which the squash was formed was 
elaborated in the leaves during the daytime and trans- 
ferred through the vine to the stem. Through this it was 
imbibed by the living, growing cells of the squash, which 
were constantly multiplying by subdivision until their 
number was many billions, notwithstanding the enor- 
mous pressure under which they were forced to develop. 
This growth was possible only because life, being a mole- 
cular force, exerted its almost irresistible power over an 
enormous surface of cell membrane. 
Scarcely less astonishing than the mechanical force ex- 
hibited was the ability of the tissues of the squash to re- 
FIG. 5. 
sist chemical changes and the attacks of mold where the 
rind was injured by bruises or cuts, Whenever fresh- 
growing cells were exposed to the action of the air, they 
immediately began to form a regular periderm of cork, 
precisely resembling in appearance and structure that pro- 
duced upon the cork oak, the elm and other trees. 
The form of the squash can hardly be described, but 
may be seen in the drawings, which show the end and 
the upper side. The weight was 47%lh., and when 
opened the rind was found to be about 3in. thick and 
unusually hard and compact. The internal cavity cor- 
responded in form to the exterior, but was very small, 
and nearly filled with fibrous tissue, and plump and ap- 
parently perfect seeds in about the normal number. [See 
Figs. 3, 4.] 
The frequent displacement of flagging-stones and the 
damage often done to brick and concrete pavements and 
stone walls by the roots of shade trees, considered in con- 
nection with the Avonderful expansive power of the squash 
in harness, made it evident that growing roots of firm 
wood must be capable of exerting, under suitable condi- 
tions, a tremendous mechanical force. Upon searching 
the fields for examples of trees standing upon naked 
rocks or ridges covered with, only a shallow soil, many 
interesting specimens were readily discovered to demon- 
strate this fact. 
In South Hadley, Mass., a sugar maple was found 
which had grown upon a horizontal bed of red sandstone. 
The tree stood upon the naked rock, over which its roots 
extended a few feet in tliree directions into the soil. 
One root had pushed its way under a slab of the rock 
which measured more than twenty-tour cubic feet, and 
must have weighed nearly two tons. In the course of 
twenty years or more, this root had developed to such 
a size as to raise the slab entirely from the bed rock and 
from the earth, so that it rested wholly upon the wood. 
Upon examining the tree, it was evident that as it stood 
upon horizontal roots, which rested on solid rock and had 
a diameter of nearly a foot, and as they had grown by an 
annual deposition of wood entirely around them, and as 
the heart, now several inches from the rock, must qnce 
have rested on it, and as the rock could not have been 
depressed, therefore the tree had been lifted every year 
by the growing wood of the outside layer. Another tree 
of paper birch having been found growing in a similar 
maiuicr, one of the horizontal roots was sawed through 
and the center of the heart was seen to have been elevated 
7in. since the tree was a seedling. 
Now, it is clearly demonstrated that the power of veg- 
etable growth can lift a tree, and that it must do so when- 
ever the bed of the roots cannot be depressed. It is evi- 
dent,, also, that old trees on a clay hardpan, or any other 
unyielding subsoil, must be thrown up by the process of 
growth. Every person is familial; with the fact that large 
trees usually have the appearance of having been raised, 
and their roots are often bare for considerable distances 
around the trunk. [See Fig. 5.] 
This lifting of the tree from its bed would seem to be 
advantageous to it, by tightening the roots so as to hold 
it firmly in place, notwithstanding the possible elonga- 
tion of their woody fiber by the excessive strains to which 
tliey are subjected during violent storms. This method of 
securing the tree in place would be still further improved 
by the constant enlargement of the roots by the annual 
deposition of a layer of wood and the consequent filling 
of any space formed in the soil by the movement of the 
roots, caused by the swaying 'of the tree in the wind. 
This slight annual elevation of trees, by the increase in 
diameter of their horizontal roots, furnishes an explana- 
tion for the differences of opinion in regard to the ques- 
tion, whether a given point on the trunk of a tree is raised 
in the process of its growth. While it has been demon- 
strated by Prof. Asa Gray that two points in a vertical 
line on the trunk of a tree will not separate as it en- 
larges, it seems equally clear that both of them may be 
quite perceptibly elevated in the course of time. 
It has been stated, on good authority, that at Walton 
Hall, in England, a millstone was to be seen in 1863 in 
the center of which was growing a filbert tree, which had 
completely filled the hole in the stone and actually raised 
it from the ground. The tree was said to have been pro- 
duced from a nut which was known to have germinated 
in 1812. The above story has been declared false, because, 
as asserted, the tree could not have exerted any lifting 
power upon the stone. It is, however, not difficult to 
see that it may be true, and is even probable. 
Yet it should be remembered that the amount of eleva- 
tion, in any case where'it occurs from the increase in the 
size of the' horizontal roots, must depend upon the char- 
acter of the material on which they rest, and can never 
exceed one-half the diameter of the largest ones. When, 
therefore, a writer asserts, as has recently happened, that 
during a visit to Washington Irving, at Sunnyside, he 
carved his name upon the bark of a tree beneath which 
he was sitting in conversation with the illustrious author, 
and that many years after he went to the place, and, with 
much difficulty, discovered the identical inscription high 
up among the branches, far above his reach, it may be 
safely inferred that the number and exaltation of his feel- 
ings interfered slightly with the correct action of his in- 
tellectual faculties. 
It is evident, in conclusion, that we have much yet to 
learn about plant life, and that it is very unwise to at- 
tempt to explain all its phenomena by a few general 
statements. 
Life has been well styled the loftiest subject of phil- 
osophv, but let us not forget that the only way to a 
sound' philosophy is through a knowledge of the truth, 
and that this is to be obtained in completeness only by 
laborious and intelligent investigation. 
"Old Red Legs." 
In my trips to Lake Champlain I have heard of a 
large individual of the bla'ck duck family, that is taken 
very l,atc in autumn, and only then. A specimen was 
sent me some years since, but arrived in such condi- 
tion as to be beyond saving. The bird was certainly 
much lai-ger than the usual run of Anas obscura, but 
as above its condition rendered a careful comparison 
out of the question. 
I wrote my correspondent in Milton, Vt., a native 
and life-long frequenter of the lake, familiar with all its 
feathered and scaled frequenters, and withal a capital 
observer. His reply was mislaid, and only after a most 
painstaking search have I been able to find it. T quote 
verbatim; 
•'It's but little I can tell you about 'old red legs, as we 
call them. T calculate they come from very far north, 
as they arrive about the same time the geese do. A 
'pure blood' has bright red legs, -and the body consider- 
able darker in feathers than the ordinary blacks. I 
have seen them so much darker as to be noticeable at 
a glance. The upper half of neck to the eyes is very 
light colored. The 'penciling,' as I would call it, is 
much m.ore distinct on this duck than on the other 
kind. 
"I think I have seen them that would weigh about 
one-fifth more, possibly a little better than that. They 
would run about one-fourth heavier on an average, I 
should say. I have seen large flocks of them, but as a 
rule they fly in small parties. They are here very early 
m the springtime, but only stay a few days. I never 
knew of their nesting about this lake, consequently I 
believe they must habit about the same grounds as the 
geese do for that purpose." * * * 
Do you know this bird? Will you give us the benefit 
of your knowledge? Wilmot Townsend. 
[Several species of "black ducks," i. e., ducks of the 
Anas obscura type, have been described for the United 
States, but it is impossible from our correspondent's de- 
scription to determine which the bird is to which he 
refers. The southe'rn forms of "black duck" usually 
average smaller than the northern ones, but all gun- 
ners are aware that there is much individual variation 
in this species. Moreover, black ducks and mallards hy- 
bridize not very infrequently, and the progeny very 
often is closely similar to the black duck parent, yet 
often considerably darker than the average bird, show- 
ing a tinge of green on the head — in the male — brightly 
colored feet and often — also, of course, in the male— a 
trace of the curled upper tail coverts, which is the sign 
of the mallard drake. They are also in our experience 
considerably larger and heavier than the common run 
of black ducks. " Really, to identify a black duck, one 
ought to be an ornithologist and to have the bird itj his 
hand.] 
Baifd's Sandpiper in Western New Yoffc^ 
Editor Forest and Stream: 
While spending the past season at Lakeside Park, Or- 
leans county, N. Y,, I noticed many shore birds at the 
entrance of Johnson's Creek, running into Lake Ontario. 
This was directly in front of the cottage we occupied, and 
therefore I had a good opportunity to observe them; and 
I noticed there were some species that were new to me, 
at least some that I had never secured for my collection. 
I wanted them ; but had to be content to use only the field 
glass on them until the open season, Aug. 15. In the 
meantime I had wheeled up to Lockport for gun and 
shells. When the season opened the birds were missing; 
but ten days later they returned in force, and on the 
morning of Aug. 25 at the first discharge, and with No. 
12 shot, I secured three birds ; a sanderling and two that I 
did not identify. I sent these birds with two semi-pal- 
mated sandpipers to Miss Schlegel, of East Aurora, 
N. Y., and by return mail she wrote that I had secured a 
new species for western New York, i. e., Baird's sandpiper 
(Tringa bairdii). On Sept. 8 two more specimens were 
secured; and another on Sept. 15. During this time I had 
also taken two turnstones (Arenaria inter pres) and speci- 
mens of least and pectoral sandpipers, all of which were 
sent to Miss Schlegel to be preserved, and she has thenj 
all mounted. 
I think this is the first record of the occurrence of 
Baird's sandpiper in western New York. There may have 
been others taken and not reported, and therefore this 
must stand as first. J. L, Davison. 
Lockport, N. Y., Dec. 8^ 
Moose Head Meastirements. 
We measured a few days since at the store of W. W- 
Hart & Co., 47 East Twelfth street,. New York, two 
moose heads, said to have come from Alaska, which in 
some respects are peculiar. 
Head No. i has a spread of 64?4in., with a length of 
palm, measured from tip of antler to curve inside the 
brow antler, of 36j^in. ; length of palm, measured to curve 
outside of brow antler, 35f4in. The circumference of 
beam just without the burr is pin. The palm on the left- 
hand side is somewhat longer, measuring 39j^in. to inside 
and 36j/'2in. to outside of brow antler. 
The spread of head No. 2 is 65>4in. ; length of palm, in- 
side 42in., outside 4oin. The beam measures 8;^in. 
The width of palm in both these heads is very small, 
running from 1054 to iiin., but nowhere reaching ift. 
On the other hand, the points rising from the margin of, 
the palm are long and slender. The brow antler in head 
No. 2 has a third stout and heavy point nearly a foot 
long directed downward and forward over the animal's 
face. On the whole, the heads are of somewhat unusual 
type. 
Weights of Vermont Deer* 
St. Johnsbuey, Vt., Dec. 27. — Editor Forest and 
Stream: I no'ticed some time ago in your paper com- 
ments on the weight of deer, and it occurred to me that 
you might like some items on this subject from Vermont. 
1 have an impression that our deer in many instances 
have exceeded the average in weight. In obtaining statis- 
tics, most of the reports give the estimated weight of the 
animals, but in many cases the actual weight was given. 
A great many of the deer weighed over 20olbs. In some 
instances I ha^Vc written personal letters to the men who 
captured the deer and ascertained the truth of the orig- 
inal reports, and have received in reply four letters giving 
the actu.al weight of the deer killed as 2311b., 26ilbs., 
3i61bs. and 37olbs. George A. Wood, of Woodford, Vt., 
appears to have taken the heaviest deer captured in Ver- 
mont the past season. Jno. W. Titcomb. 
A Tarantula in Court* 
Just before Magistrate Simm's took his seat in the Es- 
sex Market Police Court yesterday morning, and while 
the liquor-saturated, half-stupefied prisoners were await- 
ing his arrival, a ragged and frowsy-haired man put his 
hands over his eyes and cried out: "Take it away, take 
it away." A policeman, thinking that the_ prisoner had 
been seized with delirium tremens, took him out of the 
line, but scarcely had he gone when another man began 
to paw the air and dance backward. "I've got 'em, I've 
got 'em," he yelled. Then a man near the end of the line, 
who was watching the antics of his fellow prisoners, ut- 
tered a cry, and pointed to the bridge. The rest of the 
unfortunates looked in that direction, and a stampede to 
the rear railing ensued, which took all the energy of the 
policemen to stop. 
After quiet had been restored, the officials beheld, 
leisurely crawling along the bridge, an immense taran- 
tulu. 
"Who owns the bug?" shouted the sergeant. 
"I do," said a brawny fellow, edging his way through 
the crowd of frightened men. He was Francis Pope, a 
porter in a wholesale fruit house at 156 Franklin street. 
He found the tarantulu in the hold of a Panama steamship 
and explained that he had brought the insect with him 
for the purpose of showing it to Policeman Byrnes. He 
had put the insect in a cigar box, and in some manner it 
had escaped. He apologized to the court for the_ con- 
tempt that the tarantula had shown for judicial dignity 
and picked it up and replaced it in the cigar box.— New 
York Times. 
