I couldn’t bear to live in a place without trees (or without hills, for that matter). To quote Gene Hackman’s character in the film, “Unforgiven”: “Even I thought I was dead — ‘til I found out I was just in Nebraska.”
Trees can tell us things, according to the old Ozarks folkways, preserved to us by people like Vance Randolph and others.
Trees can predict rain, such as when their leaves turn up of a sudden.
Cedar trees in particular can predict impending death, once the shadow of one that has been transplanted casts a shadow long enough to cover a grave.
So don’t transplant cedars is the lesson there.
When you transplant a tree — not a cedar! — they must be planted exactly as they were in relation to direction. So, the side of tree that faced north in its former spot must still face north in its new location.
