A Diary of My Younger Years - The Autobiography of Ivan Hall

Big Trees of West Tennessee

THE BIG TREES OF WEST TENNESSEE

On the following pages I will endeavor to describe some of the products that are raised in the west part of Tennessee and the kinds of trees. Of course, this is very common to the southern people, but I shall write of them anyway, for they are closely connected with any history; and I feel that I would lose a great part of my diary if I should leave them out.

The Forkadeer swamps extend a few miles south of Brownsville. The trees in the Forkadeer River bottoms were at that time a new kind of tree to me, differing so greatly from the forest of Cedar Valley, which consisted mainly of cedar and oak. These are covered with walnut, hickory nut, and pecan trees; and the cypress trees in the Forkadeer looked odd and were a very odd kind of timber. The wood of the cypress is heavy, hard, and strong and makes the very best of shingles. The base or root of the tree sometimes measures several feet in diameter. The body of the tree then tapers rapidly from its wide base near the ground and forms only a small tree, six or seven feet high. Then it grows straight and high in the air.

However, the cypress is not an evergreen tree. The very peculiar growth of the cypress I have not told yet. From the roots of the cypress tree grow short stump-like bodies, like the base of the main tree. These are called cypress knees; sometimes a little tree will grow out of the stump-like knees. The cypress seems to grow only in the swamps around Brownsville.

Poplar trees grow also in the swamps, growing to an enormous size. The bark of the white poplar is very smooth when it is young, but as it grows older the bark becomes very coarse and rough. The leaves are somewhat like the hickory but are larger and not so tough. The wood is soft and will not float or burn when green but is light and combustible when dry. The cottonwood is almost like the poplar except it grows larger, and the leaves are covered with a soft, short down which resembles cotton.

I used to visit these swamps and help gather loads of pecans and hickory nuts. There are many chestnut trees around Brownsville. Did the reader ever see a chestnut tree in the fall when the chestnuts are falling? From experience I have learned not to be too hasty in separating the chestnut from the burr in which it is enclosed, as the burr is covered with long stickers, Very dangerous to prying fingers. But by laying the burr on the ground and pressing it with your heel, you will find that the chestnut becomes loose and drops out.

The leaves of the chestnut resemble those of the chinquapin tree. The chestnut burr contains only one or two chestnuts in each burr. The pecan tree grows very tall and is generally larger than the hickory. However, it resembles the hickory very much, the bark resembling that of the White hickory. Pecans grow principally in the swamps. You will also find the cotton and the Negro cotton are cultivated in West Tennessee to a much greater extent than in any other part Of the state.

Cotton is probably the greatest crop grown in the South. It is a southern plant, the summer in the North not being long enough for the plant to mature. It is planted in rows like corn but not so far apart. A small furrow is made and the cotton seeds are strewn along in it or planted with a cotton planter -- a round box fixed on pivots on a frame. This box is filled with cotton seeds and a number of small holes are cut around the box. The box in the frame is then drawn along the furrow, and as the box turns over the cotton seeds drop out into the furrow and are covered up In a few days the seeds sprout and grow, with each stalk forming two small leaves about an inch above the ground. Then a broad scraper cleans away the grass on each side of the row, making it easy to hoe. As the cotton grows older, it is thinned out, leaving a stalk every sixteen inches. The nearest resemblance to the cotton plant is the common okra plant that is raised in the garden. The cotton bloom is much like the okra's, but instead of having long pods, a short round boll appears after the blooms have dropped off, which grows to be as large as a peach and is about the shape of a peach. Along about September the pods turn from green to brown and burst open, letting the soft white cotton hang out. It continues to ripen until October or until the frost has completely killed the stalk. It is then picked in sacks and hauled to the cotton gin, where the seeds are separated from the lent.