When we first started coming to the woods, this stump was freshly cut. There was still bark on the trunk and plenty of spring in the bent wood. It was a dangerous stump indeed. This stump is at Fallen Timbers, along the north property line. It was left by the loggers who had foraged the forest looking for trees they could sell as lumber. The prior owner had hired them to make what money he could from the forest before he sold it to us, I guess. The loggers cut down many trees that they left behind. Most were hollow, which I guess is something you can't reliably determine before you cut into a tree. This tree, on the other hand, was not hollow, but they left it behind too. I suppose it was too thin to become a good lumber tree, but that should have been evident before they cut it. The trouble with this stump is that it is still attached to the tree, and the join is under tension. If one were to begin cutting at the bent join, the tree could snap back at the cutter with a great deal of force. Today the term "stump jumping" is used to describe a kind of mountain biking, but in pioneer days it referred to the sometimes unpredictably way a tree could fall or jump from its stump when cut. Lumberjacks could be killed when this would happen. I don't think that would happen with this tree. As dry as it is now, and with as much rot as it has gone through in the last decade, I don't think there is much tension left in it. I think I could safely cut it free, but why? Nothing would be gained by dropping the tree to the ground. I suppose it would rot away sooner, but so what? I think I'd rather visit this tree periodically and see how it is progressing on getting the job done by itself. Someday I may come to the woods and find it has broken free and fallen to the forest floor itself. Missouri calendar:

• The Missouri Natural Events Calendar is blank for today.

This entry was posted on Wednesday, November 14th, 2007 at 1:01 am and is filed under Green Things. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.