Walking through the woods early this morning, I kicked at some brush that seemed out of place. To my surprise, it was a big of clump mistletoe that evidently had fallen from one of our tall trees during our recent wind and rain storms.
The piece was about as big as a wash tub. I saw where it had attached itself to the tree.
When I was a reporter in Pine Bluff, Ark., one of the first feature stories I did was about a young man who made his Christmas money by shooting mistletoe out of trees. He was a crack shot with his .22 rifle and scope. He would take the bunches to downtown Little Rock to sell. He said he made $400 or $500 every year. This was in 1968 when $500 could buy you a nice Christmas.
I have seen mistletoe in our poplar trees, usually at the tip-top, in the winter. I'm going to try to keep it alive, but no doubt it will die. Parasites live on the edge and don't do well if tended to.
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