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VOI, IV., NO. 16.
PINEIIUKST, X. C, FEU. 22, 1001.
PRICE THREE CENTS
SPUING IN riNEIIUKST.
jlri:ff la here, the mocking bird says;
(! has sung it now for seven days
In various notes as If he thought
Thai lio alone the good news brought.
TliuM' timid birds dressed all in blue
Their sweet low message bring anew.
Ooeiis and pansy now have heard
From 'neaththe earth the same glad word;
Ami when the glass is sixty and live
Oh! 'tisa joy to be alive. .
NATIVE PLANTS AND TREES.
The lloni of our section is the more
fascinating to the observing stranger
from the North, because, while it reminds
him to :i certain extent of the trees and
plants lie was used to meet with at home,
there is enough ag.iin of t lie semi-tropical
in the first impression gained of our
landscape to be conducive to a more or
less close study of our native plants.
It has been my privilege to make a
specialty of the trees and plants indi
genous to this section for the lust four
years and I must confess that the more
I see of them and the better I gel
acquainted with their development in
their natural locations, the more I appre
ciate the words of a recent writer who
declared North Carolina a portion of
paradise as far as wild flowers enter into
the idea.
Our flora can be distinctly separated
into plants growing along the course of
our creeks and in those growing in
upland. The most important representa
tives of the latter class are of course the
long-leaf pines, which are or ought to be
the dominant feature of our landscape,
hut thanks to the incessant attacks on
the part, of turpentine stillers and lum
bermen on the one side, and of forest
fires and the ravages of the omnivorous
razoibaeks on the other, there are com
paratively few specimens left, in this
section at least, in their virgin beauty.
Where the pines were destroyed they are
followed by oaks, of which there are a
great many kinds and varieties around
here, but which mostly originate from
the blackjack or from the post oak.
Where the soil is not quite so poor, per
simmons are found growing singly or in
little groups. Their delicious fruit, after
it has been touched by a good frost, is
too well known to need more than be
mentioned here. Where the ground is
not only ;i little rich but also moist,
hollies and dogwoods will thrive and
bloom and fruit. If there is anything
ti noi- than a group of dogwood in bloom
lllU'r,lli"gled with the somber green of
the holly, I do not know it.
I'he more we approach the edge of our
creek, the more varied the flora will
hecoiue. High towering stands the tulip
tlee, building up its branches as sym
metiiniiy ns if laid off with the rule and
prodding its yellowish green tulip
shap...i flowers in early spring. The
)1iU'k--mu s another denizen of the
weeks. It grows also to a good sized
tree, ! ,s very p,.ettv f0ii;ip.e which colors
finely in fall and it produces black
cherry-shaped berries. The sweet-gum,
which also is found mostly in moist
ground, grows with us to a very large
fine tree, colors simply gorgeously in
early fall and is prominent wherever.it
appears. Hickories are found sometimes
but are comparatively scarce. Of some
what smaller growth but as showy as
any is the red maple, blooming as early
as March and immediately afterwards
developing its bright red winged fruits.
Of shrubs and small trees the sweet
bay is one of the most prominent ones
not only for its frequence but also on
account of its leaves, its flowers and the
glow of its fruit-stands. The cliftonia
or iron wood has a narrow peach-shaped
nearly evergreen leaf and forms a very
finely shaped bush. The foliage hangs
on aln:ot all winter, as do the drooping
also on higher ground, is almost ever
green with us and is of a fine appearance
to look at, as are also the sweet pepper
bush and the alder. A rare species of the
alderthe fothergillu is found some
times, but is not common at all. Many
shrubs besides holly are especially val
uable for their glowing red berries dur
ing winter time. Conspicuous among
these are the deciduous boll', the foliage
of which resembles the evergreen holly a
good deal, but which is shed in fall. It,
as well tis the red berried cbokeberry,
begins to be generally recognized now
among the finest winter fruiting shrubs.
The cbokeberry is among our earliest
bloomers again in spring when its apple-blossoin-shaped
flowers brighten up the
landscape. Then there are haws, with
an abundance of clusters of sometimes
eatable bluish black berries, pink bloom-
dm$A Km Ji'iSiIfi $
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LOBBY OF TIIK CAROLINA.
thread-like fruit-stands. The sourwood
is as well known farther north as it is
with us and it deserves to on account of
its fine foliage and the very conspicuous
drupes of flowers which hang all winter.
Smaller yet than those named before
are the beautiful fetterbush, with its
bright glossv evergreen foliage and its
flue health-like flowers which appear
very earlv in spring and excite general
admiration. Its brother, the deciduous
stao-gerbush, drops its foliage during
winter but produces much more showy
flowers of distinct fragrance in April.
The gallberrv, or as it is called further
north, the inkberry, is one of our stand
bys. It is ahvavs pleasant to look at
with its-dark green foliage and its abund
ance of glossy black berries which bang
on all winter. There is a tall variety of
thegallberry which has larger and still
more' glossv and leathery foliage and
which produces larger berries also.
The bavberrvor wax-myrtle is rathei
JmonUtnly.alonKour creeks but
ing azaleas, which bloom in earliest
spring before their leaves appear; the
yuccas which have a strikingly semi
tropical aspect with their stiff leaves
and which send forth their tall spikes of
snowy bell-shaped flowers every May;
and many, many other shrubs, which to
enumerate only would take more time
than can be alotted to me. I will only
mention here yet the different briars,
which ramble luxuriously over and
among all the other denizens of our
creeks. The evergreen SmUax-laurifolia
with its black berries and the deciduous
Smilax loalterii with its red berries are
the most prominent of them.
While it will appear from all I have
said before that a majority of our shrubs
occur in moist places, it is not said that
they will only thrive in such. Quite the
contrary! We have for instance used
many thousands, and I may as well say
fcnmiml thousands of fetterbush, gall-
berry, sourwood and in fact of all other
shrubs I have mentioned, on the grounds
of Pinehurst. The plants were taken up
with only ordinary care, wherever they
could be found growing naturally and in
sufficient quantities, and were instantly
removed to high and dry ground, which
had been prepared for their reception
but scantily and where no special car
and attention could be given them after
they were once planted, except an occa
sional hoeing. Of all these enormous
quantities thus used, but a slight percent
age has been lost even though their first
season was an exceptionally hot and dry
one. In fact, most of them did not seem
to mind the complete change of location
at all but continued not only to grow but
actually to thrive, especially after they
were fed with manure or fertilizers.
Not only in fine and interesting woody
plants, however, our section abounds but
there are a great number of most attrac
tive perennial herbaceous plants, which
are prominent through fine flowers, foli
age or fruit. To speak of them more
extensively would give material sufficient
for another paper and I shall confine
myself, therefore, to just a few of such
that while well known here, are at the
same time rare elsewhere. There is for
instance our deer cabbage, Lupinus dif-
fusus, which is a biennial. It forms very
large tufts of grayish green thick leaves
and produces a profusion of flowers,
which appear in early spring in very
showy spikes and which are extremely
pretty. It may be worth mentioning
here, that the seed will generally lay over
a whole year before it germinates and
that it ought to be sown therefore as
soon as possible after ripening, although
it keeps its germinating power for sev
eral years. This lupine and the quite as
well known devil's shoestring, tire most
excellent sand binders. The devil's shoe
string obtained its quaint name most
probably just for the reason, as its roots
can hardly be eradicated wherever they
once take firmly hold.
Earliest of the spring bloomers is the
mayflower, which opens here by the mid
dle of February and our sweet little
pyxies, the flowering moss, which is in
its glory at about the same time. But
both the mayflower and pyxieare getting
scarcer and scarcer with us every year
now, thanks to the indiscriminating
vandals who seem to delight to pull up
large quantities of them, roots and all,
without any other purpose seemingly
than to throw them away again after a
short while.
As the season progresses, our woods
look like real fairy gardens. Flowers
innumerable and in all colors, modest
and gorgeous, can be observed until in
late fall the gentians bloom and remind
us of approaching winter.
To protect and preserve our native
plants and trees from useless destruction
every effort ought to be made individually
and collectively, or many of our choicest
gems will soon become memories only
instead of being sources of constant en
joyment to all. Otto Katzexsteix.