Cottonwood

“ The willow, vine maple, birch and alder along the creeks and lake-shore held touches of autumnal colouring; while on the hills the yellowed leaves of the cottonwood were brilliant in their setting of sober dark green conifers.
A gaudy red were the vine maples, but there was a leafy beauty greater than theirs. The flowering dogwood blazed from every nook and cranny. The ripening of the dogwood gives to its leaves a flame that burns with a fierce glow; a glow that further ripening deepens until its crimson flush becomes the loveliest hue of the British Columbia woods. ”

“ The cottonwood is a giant now, and its vibrant foliage talks, summer after summer, in the evening breeze with humanlike voice, and tells its life story to the graceful, swaying elm near by, while the gnarled and scrubby little apple tree, shaped, as to its head, like a despondent toadstool, stands in dual shade, and bears small sweet apples, year after year, in all humility. ”

“ A huge cottonwood with its upflung branches and sunken roots paused momentarily as it struck a shallow spot, shivered, lost a snapping dead limb, collected a surprising amount of débris as it swung slowly around and tore free from the clutching mud of the bottom and, once more acquiring momentum, shot out of sight into the night, its slowly rising branches telling of the heavy roots sinking to their proper depth. ”

“ The cottonwood tree reigns supreme throughout this country wherever there is moisture, and marks with its varied shades of green the sinuous line of every water-course. Despised even here as soft and easily rotted, "warping inside out in a week," it is valuable as almost the sole resource for fuel and timber, and as making up in speed of growth for a too ready rate of decay. ”

“ The whole process of this blooming was interesting, curious, but hardly beautiful, and it seemed to fit in with the restless character of the poplar family—a family of trees with more vigor than dignity, more sprightliness than grace. As Professor Bailey says of the cottonwood, "It is cheerful and restive. One is not moved to lie under it as he is under a maple or an oak." ”

“ A big cottonwood, as from its shape I judged it to be, rose against the stars in my front,—a dim outline swaying slightly in the westerly wind, and I took it as my first guide-mark, moving over the rough unknown ground as rapidly and silently as possible.
The soft moccasins I wore aided me greatly, nor were there many trees along the way to drop twigs in the path to crackle under foot; yet I found the ground uneven and deceptive, rifted with small gullies, and more or less bestrewn with stones, against which I stumbled in the darkness. ”

“ The bright carmine bark has faded to a dull green and the shrub is a disappointment now, despite its blossoms. So is the cottonwood a disappointment. Its wealth of shining green foliage is beautiful, yet we sigh for the lost glory of the [65] midwinter days when the horizontal rays of the setting sun made aureoles of golden light around its yellow, shining limbs.
It is worth while on a walk in June to sit and look at the grass. How tame and dreary would be the landscape without it! How soul starved would have been mankind, condemned to live without the restfulness of its unobtrusive beauty! ”

“ Our march to-day was very laborious, over very broken ground, along the Santa Clara river; but then the country is no longer so distressingly desolate. The stream is prettily wooded with sweet cottonwood trees--some of them of large size; and on the hills, where the nut-pine is often seen, a good and wholesome grass occurs frequently. This cottonwood, which is now in fruit, is of a different species from any in Michaux's Sylva. Heavy dark clouds covered the sky in the evening and a cold wind sprang up, making fires and overcoats comfortable. ”

“ In almost any other portion of the country the cottonwood would be the least desirable of trees; but to the Indian, and, in many instances which have fallen under my observation, to our troops, the cottonwood has performed a service for which no other tree has been found its equal, and that is as forage for horses and mules during the winter season, when the snow prevents even dried grass from being obtainable. ”

“ The cottonwood (Populus monilifera) is the most characteristic tree of the plains and of the arid region between the Rockies and the Sierras. It is a species of poplar and takes its name from the white downy blossom fronds, resembling cotton, which come out upon it in the spring. The cottonwood and a species of stunted oak, with the mesquite in the south, are almost the only trees to be found upon the great plains extending from the Saskatchewan southward into Texas. ”

“ Once arrived at the scene of their labors, the reluctance of the curs to draw near the piles of cottonwood is most comical. They will lie down stubbornly at a little distance, whining their uneasiness, or sometimes scamper off bodily, with their long poles trailing after them, pursued by the yelling and half-frantic squaws. ”

“ Down a long, long lane—down there, a little way past the cottonwood tree, where the lane quits going on, that is where the world stops. You know that is the place because of the awesomeness that comes to you. The old cottonwood stands sentinel over that region of the Great Beyond. So tall and big and still he is that if you look at him awhile [Pg 27] you will get the strange feeling of things. High up in the glossy leaves one can sometimes hear a little pattery sound, finer than the crinkle of tissue paper—a pretty little sound like a quiet sprinkle of cooling rain. ”

“ Cottonwood, mesquite, prickly pear, and other growths mingled with the willow, and altogether they made a matted, tangled copse, a thicket that an inexperienced man would have considered impenetrable. ”

“ Cottonwood seedlings were apt to spring up in newly cleared ground. If there was no tree in the field, one of these seedlings might be let grow into a small tree. Cottonwoods grew very rapidly.
The tree that shaded the watchers’ stage in our family field, and which I have indicated on the map, was about as high as my son Goodbird’s cabin, and had a trunk about four inches in diameter. The cottonwood tree standing in Wolf Chief’s corn field this present summer, is perhaps about the height of the trees that used to stand in our fields at Like-a-fishhook village. ”

“ Probably the tree most commonly planted in treeless regions has been some species of cottonwood. Lombardy poplar and Balm of Gilead have been great favorites. Cottonwood grows rapidly and is hardy against frost, but requires a never-failing supply of water within five to twenty feet of the surface. Because of its demands for moisture it will not grow on uplands, but thrives along water courses or where there is plentiful supply of moisture below the surface. ”

“ When it is crowded a tall, slender trunk is developed and the small crown is lifted clear above its competitors into the full light. If it cannot succeed in gaining that position its growth is stunted or the tree meets an early death.
The black cottonwood is the greatest of the cottonwoods. This country produces no other to match it, and, as far as known, the whole world has none. ”

“ Every leaf of the cottonwood is distinctly defined—it is a kodak for faithful, hard, unsentimental detail; the other an impressionist picture, delicious to look upon, full of a subtle and exquisite charm, but all details fused in a swoon of vague and soft loveliness.”
It turned out, upon inquiry, to be a pepper tree—an importation from China. It has a silky sheen, soft and rich. I saw some that had long red bunches of currant-like berries ambushed among the foliage. At a distance, in certain lights, they give the tree a pinkish tint and a new charm. ”

“ Trunks seldom go to sawmills, but some local use is made of the wood. Trees are occasionally planted for shade in towns of western Nebraska and Wyoming.
Fremont Cottonwood (Populus fremontii) , called white cottonwood in New Mexico, but elsewhere simply cottonwood, grows from western Texas to California, and as far north as Utah and Colorado. It sometimes attains a diameter of five or six feet and a height of 100. The Indians in New Mexico formerly made rude, clumsy ox carts of this wood, without a scrap of iron or other metal in the vehicles. ”

“ The specific name, deltoides, comes from the Greek, and alludes to the deltoid or triangular shape of the leaves. The cottonwood grows wild in Western New England, south to Florida and westward.
Beside these four poplars, the swamp cottonwood (Populus heterophylla) is found growing wild at one place in Connecticut, and the Lombardy and white poplars are both planted commonly from Europe.
The erect, rigid branches of the Lombardy poplar and its general narrow, spire-like growth make the outline of this tree so distinctive that it is easily recognized, even in winter, at a great distance. ”

“ The Cottonwood is dioecious, and the little seeds are surrounded by a tuft of long, white hairs which enables the wind to carry them to considerable distances from the parent tree, to the disgust of people living within range. ”

“ The cottonwood was found growing over a widely extended range, under diverse climatic conditions, appearing always self-reliant, showing prodigious fecundity, and having wonderful means of propagation. It provided its seed, produced in enormous number, with a device by which they traveled on the wind to far places and so became widely disseminated in all directions, traveling up-stream or down-stream, and even across the plains and prairies to other streams where the new generation might establish itself. ”

“ The moisture furnished to the ground by the race, caused the flying seeds of the cottonwood to germinate where they fell, along its border; and the result is, a double row of fine, tall trees—a hint to the farmer who can turn water through his grounds from some spring or stream. Four or six years will find the trees grown to the height of thirty or forty feet. ”

“ Where an immediate effect is desired, the cottonwood serves the purpose excellently and frequently makes very fine large individual trees, but the wood is soft and likely to be broken by wind or ice. Usually propagated from cuttings. ”

“ Cottonwood can be separated from other light and soft woods by the fineness of its rays, which is equaled only by willow, which it rather closely resembles. The wood is largely used for boxes, general construction, lumber, and pulp. ”

“ Till lately some of the more credulous old men declared that many of the misfortunes of their people were caused by this modern disregard for the rights of the living cottonwood. The Iroquois believed that each species of tree, shrub, plant, and herb had its own spirit, and to these spirits it was their custom to return thanks. ”

“ Why are all the trees out here those tall cottonwoods?”
“They ain’t all,” answered the obliging brakeman, “but the cottonwoods don’t take so much soil. They grow easy and quick, and make good wind-breaks, so folks plant ’em when they build a house near a creek like that one over there. Quaking-asps—they grow well, too.”
“Quaking-asps!” cried Priscilla. “Where are they? Please show me! I’d give worlds to see one! My roommate lives out here—I’m just on my way to visit her—and it’s her favorite tree.” ”

“ The largest sized cottonwood trees, dying of old age, are found on the islands within two miles of the head of the lake. The small willows on the low and extreme points seem of an almost uniform size and age; and are small more, perhaps, from the unfavorable condition in which they are placed than from want of time to grow since the land was formed. ”

“ In the meadows and along the shore, the tree most common is the cottonwood, which with the willow forms almost the exclusive growth of the Missouri. The hills or rather high grounds, for they do not rise higher than from one hundred and fifty to two hundred feet, are composed of a good rich black soil, which is perfectly susceptible of cultivation, though it becomes richer on the hills beyond the Platte, and are in general thinly covered with timber. ”

“ Ten thousand head of horses and cattle could keep fat without going many miles from the settlements, and there is a belt of good thrifty forest of cottonwood timber, a mile wide, for 50 miles up and down the Little Colorado River, and sufficient dry wood strewn along the bottom to supply the settlements with fuel for many years, without cutting any green timber. The cottonwood groves are sufficiently dense to give herds of deer hiding grounds all the year round. ”

“ Cottonwood "creek" was originally so named at the point where it was struck on the old Santa Fé caravan road, and because it showed the first trees of that kind to be found in traveling westward on that route. The crossing was at or near present town of Durham, Marion Co. It was some time before the true connection of the Cottonwood with the Neosho was made out. At Council Grove the traders knew they were on a head of the Neosho or Grand r., though they called it Council Grove cr. They kept on W. to "Diamond springs" (on a head of Six Mile or present Diamond cr.) ”

“ At higher elevations it is more apt to occur in canyon bottoms and gulches, in moist, sandy or gravelly soil, and in such situations the black cottonwood is smaller. The best growth occurs where the climate is humid and the precipitation is great. ”

“ The cottonwood growing in the surrounding country is brought here in cord-wood lengths; then is taken, a stick at a time, and chopped into small chips, being then carried to large vats and soaked in chemicals until it forms a pulp that runs over hot rollers, and running over continuous rollers is compressed and dried, bringing it down to fine paper. ”