March 30, 1901.] 
FOREST ' AND * STREAM. 
^48 
Darti 'W if yoti'rfe a-g^oin' tti measure me. yoii might 
as well git out a cheer an' begin at the top, cr =;hal] t 
gid daown on all fours?" 
"While 3'ou're a-measiirin* him an' Joel. Jozeff an' 
Solon an' nie'll fetch in the 'taters an' put 'eni in the 
suller. They're Buckeyes an' Long Johns an* English 
Mutes, an'U be ninepence a bushil. You light a light,. 
Nancy, an' show us the way daown suller." 
With that Sam went out, followed by Solon and 
Joseph, while Lydia brought her tape line and book 
and began the measurement of her huge customer, and 
Nancy handed a lighted tallow candle in its shining 
iron candlestick to Sam as he passed down the cellar 
stairs. 
"Wal, their 'tater bin's pooty nigh cleaned aOut," said 
Joseph, as he carried his full bag down the narrow stairs 
and emptied it on the bare boards. 
■'Some time we've got tu bring them gals some cloth 
an' let 'em work it up. They'll feel 'n.ough better," said 
Sam, laying a brown paper roll on top of the potatoes 
and going up the stairs. 
"I'm a'goin' tu see if this 'ere pork berril corroberates. 
so to speak," said Solon, ^ hanging his emptied bag on his 
left arm, taking of^ the damp cover and holding the 
candle down inside the cask. "The' 's a leetle layer o' 
salt left, but not no nutrigotious food tu eat. 'VVal, I 
shall be killin' nex' week if it keeps col'." 
"It 'most seems 'ough them ol' gals 'd ruther work 
'an tu set still. What critters!" said Joseph. 
"What was 't Saniwel depositoried here?" said Solon. 
"Feels like sa'ssiges, er mebby it's lean meat fer fryin' 
er suthin' else," said Joseph, trjnng the roll with his 
thumb and finger. "They won't heave it awaj^ if tliey 
hain't porpers. I don't scarcely 'b'lieve they will." 
With the cellar somewhat replenished and ten cords 
-of wood under the shed. Avhich Pelatiah had told Sam he 
'Should like no better fun than to pile up in good shape 
■ evenings, "bein" he couldn't be spared no other time." 
:the kindly neighbors departed, leaving something bet- 
;ter than food and fuel in the little brown house. 
As the sisters watched the slow ox teams going down 
the hill. Nancy admitted, "Arter all's said an' done, folks 
hain't all Bascoms. an' it does seem 's if men folks 'ould 
iiev 'em clo's a while longer." 
R0WL.\ND E ROBTNSO?^. 
The Appalachian Park. 
■Considering the fact that Congress has approved the 
loili establishing the National Appalachian Park, and 
that it is only a question of time when its formation will 
Tie completed, it may be of interest to all concerned, who 
are really every man, woman and child. 
"Who loves to lie with me 
Under the greenwood tree; 
And tune his merry note 
Unto the .sweet bird's throat; 
to know something of this most interesting region. So 
we may stand on the top of Satula Mountain, at the foot 
of which, on the plain, lies the picturesque village of 
Highlands; but this plain is 4,000 feet above sea level, 
which gives a height of something under 5,000 feet to this 
picturesque, even charming, mountain. And from its 
top can be seen an almost uninterrupted ocean of verdure, 
surging in colossal waves of forest, against the numerous 
crests of other mountains, the w'hole view appearing to 
one who has crossed the ocean very much like the lines 
. of billows, with their intervening hollows, rolling in 
vastness until sight reaches them no longer, and the blue 
sky meets the horizon. 
Rising from this imdulating ocean are seen the out- 
lines of the highest points of the Blue Ridge and the 
; Smoky mountains, some of which tower over 6,000 feet 
:above sea level, and many over 5,000 feet, while t!ie 
plateau on which Highlands stands is something o\ er 
.4,500 feet. In every direction from the point of view lie 
•ithese rolling waves, on the south closed in by the blue 
ihorizon, on which on a clear day the^snioke of the South- 
cern Railroad is seen forty miles distant; on the other 
sides by this undulating ocean, with here and there, only, a 
small clearing on which the isolated settler has made a 
solitary home, and lives and rears his numerous children 
on the familiar sour-dough corn bread and the milk of 
his cow, sometimes getting a feast of hog meat en- 
livened by a string of speckled trout or a few of the 
abundant pheasants, and in the season a turkey, which he 
captures in the inwardly sloping rail pen baited with an 
ear of corn. It is true that these men are numerously ad- 
dicted to the so-called moonshine business, and the soli- 
tary stranger is not always received with the traditionary 
welcome, but is viewed with cold suspicion. These moun- 
tains are covered with timber to the top. except in the 
case of some of the highest "balds." as they are called, 
the smooth tops of which are covered with rich black soil 
and abundant grass, this being pastured by cattle ranged 
in the woods by owners living at a distance or nearer, who 
hire a resident to attend to the salting of the stock at 
regular intervals. And this being done by each one at 
some fixed place, the herds all become under easy control. 
Of course, the fine timber of the region is as yet Avith- 
out actual value, on account of the impossibility of getting 
it out of the country. Every tree known to North 
America on the East grows here, except the live oak, and 
there are two specially indigenous here. These are a dis- 
tinct variety of the hemlock, which is distinguished by its 
doubled leaves, that grow in clusters, and not singly or 
in pairs, as the leaves of the common hemlock do ; and 
one other very rare^tree. only found naturally here, a 
-variety of the camellia family, Stuartia pentagyna, a speci- 
men of which is growing in Fairmount Park in Pliiladel- 
•phia. and was carried from this locahty. 
I send an illustration of this flower (Stiiarfia pen- 
tagyna), which has thick fleshy cream-colored leaves, and 
is three inches across. It much resembles the common 
dogwood in habit, excepting that the flowers have five 
petals, while the dogwood has only four. The dogwood 
is exceedingly abundant, covering the hillsides in the 
spring with its bloom, so that one might think he might 
be viewing a dense orchard. 
The rhododendron and all its tribe of evergreen shrubs 
fill the woods; this shrub, or tree, as it is here, grows 
35 feet high, and a specimen, of which I have a photo- 
graph, h»d over two thousand of its targe conspicuous 
panicles of flowers on it. The woods in June blaze Avith 
the azalea blooms of all colors, from pale lemon yellow 
lo the deepest scarlet; whole hillsides are thus cov- 
ered quite frequently, while the beautiful kalmia (with 
its six-sided cups and recurved stamens, each bent into a 
small niche in the petal, and at maturity springing back 
suddenly v>'ith a jerk, thus automatically scattering' the 
pollen on the pistils) grows in equal abundance, in com- 
pany with its more modest but exceedingly sweet-odored 
azalea viscosa (the clammy azalea), so called from the 
stickiness of its tubular, creamy-white bunched flowers. 
This is a dwarfed variety of this family, and completely 
covers whole acres under the towering forest over it. This 
variety of azalea has the odor of the tuberose, and on the 
calm summer evenings the sweet scent fills the air every- 
where. Why it is not very common in gardens is a sur- 
prise. The white fringe Chionaiifhus virginica is common 
along river banks, which in places are wholly bordered 
with this and the beautiful Pliiladclplius graiidiflarus, 
both of which are popular flowering shrubs on Northern 
lawns. Indeed, from the first appearance of the white 
llowcrs of the service tree — here a timber tree — in the 
spring, all through the year until the sotir wood hangs 
its sweet flower clusters early in the fall, and the witch 
hazel shows its curious blooms in November, after its 
leaves have fallen, the woods are gorgeous with con- 
tinual bloom. I should not forget the grand tulip tree 
(Lyriodcndroit tulipifera) with its sweet cup-like flowers, 
and the cucumber tree (Magnolia aciimhiata) . with its 
conspictious creamy blossoms, followed by its scarlet fruit. 
STU.'VKTIA PENTAGYNA. 
shaped like a cucumber — whence its common name. These 
two trees furnish the most valuable timber, commonly 
called poplar, and grow to enormous size. The butt log 
of some trees has at times cttt into a thousand feet of 
boards. I have measured one tree over 7 feet in diam- 
eter at the stump, and 132 feet to the first lim.b. where 
the trunk was still 3 feet in diameter. The chestnut 
grows to this size. I have measured sassafras trees 3 feet 
through, and the common black cherry larger still. All 
other trees are in equivalent proportion. 
The mountain laurel, so called (the Kalmia latifolia. 
botanicalhO. has enormovts roots, the grain of which is 
gnarled, curled and colored in a beautiful manner, and 
furnishes material for the finest finishing work for railroad 
cars and houses; also for ornamental ttirned work: the 
rhododendron also furnishes beautiful wood for similar 
work. Indeed there is not a tree growing in these vast 
woods but has a high value for use as soon as transporta- 
tion is provided for its removal or manufacture. 
Under scientific arborictilture these forests will be self- 
sustaining from the first, and a reasonable estimate which 
I venture to make, after nearly twenty years' residence 
here, and during which I have been engaged in preserving 
and improving the forests on my tract of 4,000 acres, is 
that ten dollars an acre may be made from fully one-third 
of this territory (which is nearly all virgin forest, such 
as I have described) as a permanent income from the tim- 
ber alone, most of which ma}^ be sold to manufacturers, 
who will cut and remove the selected trees and preserve 
the yonug growth for futtire use. And in the mean- 
time, indeed for all time, these woods may remain in a 
resting and breathing place for the overtired business 
men who love to carry a rod or a gun and seek real and 
actual recreation, either in the summer or the winter. 
For while the summers are cool, averaging from 60 to 80 
degrees at noonday, and under 60 at nights in the summer, 
these being the extremes, the average in the winter rang- 
ing from occasional drops for a few hours to zero, up to 
60, with but little snow that lies on the ground, may tempt 
strangers who would avoid the severity of the Northern 
winters, but yet. too, the tOo warm more Southern lo- 
calities, to seek here one of the most pleasant resorts be- 
tween the two extremes, where the air is the purest pos- 
sible, being above the reach of injurious genns, and the 
water is as it is di.stilled from the clouds, and flows frotn 
the clean subsoil in myriads of clear springs, pure and 
fresh, forming innumerable rills, which grow into rivu- 
lets, which supply the streams, and every drop is washed 
and washed by the pure air as the water tumbles over the 
innumerable rocks and cliffs, making beautiful views (and 
music, too) everywhere as one rides along the roads, or to 
be seen by glimpses through the woods. 
There is nothing which may be called magnificent here. 
It is all beauty — .scenery that charms one, that quiets the 
worn, wear)' nerves and fills one up with restfulness. The 
climate is a specific for all lung and throat diseases; the 
poisonous mosquito is a rarity ; one rests during the cool 
summer days, and sleeps under the needed blankets at 
night, enjoying the rest of the satisfied mind and body. 
This is a mere sketch of what this Appalachian park will 
be. and may be easily so made to be. The whole must be 
seen to be realized in full. Henry Stew.-vrt. 
Highlands, N. C. 
— • — 
Experience with Wild Animals. 
Editor Forest and Stream: 
It seems to me that Juvenal's letter in Forest AND 
Stream of Feb. 23 requires an answer. It is not right 
to ridicule a statement made in good faith, but there i.s 
no reason why one should accept such statements without 
question. 
It is of course unsafe to generalize from a limited per- 
sonal experience, but my acquaintance with Felis concolor 
extends over so many 3'ears and covers so many hun- 
dreds of instances that several volumes of Forest and 
Stream would be required to publish them. ' ' 
Both the cougar and the big gray wolf are commbn 
everyday animals to us here in the Rockies. How com- 
mon and how destructive to stock the following items 
from a State paper show : "Wolves are so thick on the 
New Forks that all stock must be corraled at night." 
"The bill for the destruction of predatory wild animals 
which has just passed the legislature carries with it an 
appropriation of $40,000." 
For fifteen years I have made a close study of the 
cougar. For two months each year for four years, Mr. 
A. G. Wallihan and myself spent our entire time photo- 
graphing cougars under all circumstances, and we have 
a large collection of fine negatives. I have followed on 
foot the trails in the snow of dozens of the animals where 
every move, every step, that the cougar took for days 
was as plain as ii I had walked alongside. I know how 
the cqugar lives, Avhat he eats, how he catches his game, 
and what he does with it after he catches, if. I followed 
one big male cougar for seven days before coming up 
with him. I have followed numbers for forty-eight hours, 
and. I know cougar nature as wfell as I know my own. 
Not only this, but I have talked with men who have 
hunted the annnaf wherever he is found. All agreed 
with me in what I had noticed as to the habits of the 
brute. 
North and South., East and West. Fclis concolor is the 
same. . - 
Let us take up the case of the man on horseback who 
was chased by the panther. Nothing is more likely than 
that a panther wou!d jump at a horse. Thousands of 
horses are killed by them every year in the West, horse 
flesh being a faA^oritc food. As to the chase and repeated 
jumps, I do not 'believe it. The cougar can move with 
wonderful speed for a hundred yards. On level ground 
any horse can otitrttn one in a quarter of a mile.' The 
cougar simply has not the lung-power to run any dis- 
tance. Time after time I have jumped a cougar out of a 
tree into the midst of the dogs. Before the dogs got 
started the cougar would be fifty feet away. He would run 
a hundred yards while the dogs ran twenty-five. If the 
cougar was fat the dogs would have him before he was 
two hundred yards from the starting place; if the animal 
was thin it might go four hundred yards before being 
overtaken. If the coitgar was lucky enough to get into 
a tree before being pulled down its sides would be going 
like a pair of bellows, and if promptly poked out of the 
tree it could not get away from the dogs. We used to 
iry to get a photograph of a tougar during the first dash. 
As an illu.stration of the cougar's speed, the camera that 
would show every detail of a horse or dog crossing at 
full speed fifty feet away would show nothing but a 
blurred object for the cougar. In the case referred to by 
your correspondent, the panther probably jumped at the 
horse. Finding a man on its back it let go and slid off, 
scratching the horse's rump and tearing the man's coat. 
No panther, after making its dash and leap, has wind 
enough left to catch any animal as fast as a horse. 
I have seen repeated instances where a cougar has 
missed its rush, and it never attempted to pursue its prey, 
but went on hunting something else. 
xAs far as a cougar following a man is concerned, that 
is a comtnon thing — the\' are forever at it. So is a wolf.- 
a coyote or a fox. for that tnatter. A. number of times 
I have trailed a cougar all day, and had it turn right 
around and trail me back to camp after dark. When a 
cougar is being closely followed it barely keeps out of 
sight ahead of its pursuer, and will often, double around 
and drop in behind. No one that .knows cougar nature 
ever thinks twice of danger when being followed by one. 
For instance, ten years ago I was staying alone at a 
place I had in the mountains, looking after some cattle.- 
I had a haystack and corral a mile and a half down the 
creek from the cabin, and kept my saddle horses there, 
walking back and forth morning and evening. One day- 
it snowed a couple of inches, clearing up at sunset, and 
as it happened it was after dark before I got my horses 
taken care of. The next morning the snow showed the 
following-; .A she cougar and three full-grown cubs came 
down the creek early in the evening. They were very 
hungry and were hunting. Coming to the cabin they 
prowled around for some time, going into the stable, and 
making quite an effort to get into the store house, where' 
several deer were hanging. Failing in this they wetit on 
down the creek, and met_me half a mile below. Going 
off the trail thirly feet or so they crouched doAvn until I 
had passed, then followed me home. Then they went 
down the creek to a bunch of cattle, but the cattle were 
nearly all big steers, and bunching up kept the cougars 
off. At daylight the cougars left the cattle and went on 
down the creek. A little way below they saw a deer up 
in some scrub oak and went up and killed it. They were 
so hungry that they nearly cleaned up the deer, a full- 
grown doe. When I went down in the morning I saw 
magpies and knew what was up-, as I had seen the cougar 
tracks. Going a little closer I saAv that the cougars -vVere'^ 
still at the carcass, so went back, and getting a rifle 
killed the old one, the cubs bolting into the brush. Then 
I went back and got a lot of No. 4 traps, which I set all 
aroimd what was left of the deer, and next morning had 
