Camping and woodcraft - Scoutmastercg.com

58 CAMPING AND WOODCRAFTdency to follow the sun toward the west as Is characteristicof many plants. I have often used thecompass-plant as a guide, and never was led astrayby it; in fact, the old settlers on the prairies, if theychanced to get lost on a dark night, would get theirbearings by feeling the leaves of the compass-plant.The closely related prairie dock {Silphium terebinthinaceum)and that troublesome weed knownas prickly lettuce{Lactuca scariola), show a similarpolarity. This characteristic is lost if the plants aregrown where they receive much shade. Of course,terrestrial magnetism has nothing to do with thepolarity of plants; it is the sunlight, received on thetwo sides of the leaves alternately, that determinestheir position.But what think you of plant roots that persistentlygrow north and south ? The woodsmen of the GreatSmoky Mountains declare that there is a *'north-andsouthplant," as they call it, with two long rootsthat grow respectively north and south. DoctorDavis of Ware's Valley, on the Tennessee sidedescribed it to me as follows: "It resembles wildverbena, grows thigh-high, is a rare plant, andgenerally Is found in hollows on the south side ofmountains. In rocky neighborhoods, near tricklingstreams. Its leaf is serrated, i^ by i Inch, orlarger, with purple heart, yellow edges, and the resta bright red. Its roots usually do grow north andsouth. The plant is one of the most valuable medicinallythat I know of, particularly for syphiliticaffections. I do not know it by any other namethan the native one of North-and-South. I gatherit when I can find it, and use it in my practice."Many others have given me similar reports. I donot know the plant; have never hunted systematicallyfor It.Lost Arts.—I am of the opinion that there arenatural compass-signs in the forest, and on the plain,that we are Ignorant of, but that were well knownto savages In a state of nature. Such men, depend-