NANTUCKET TREES 19 



Scotland. She was living at her grandfather's at the time 

 and remembered boxes of seedlings about 18 inches high. 5 

 Both pines and larches have done well and have evidently 

 seeded in the vicinity. There are many fine trees whose 

 branches sweep the ground. Hickories grow here too. 

 The stand has been neglected and it is an unkempt grove. 

 Perhaps that is just as well. "The Larches" would lose 

 much of their charm if trimmed up like a state forest. 



The larches on Hinckley Lane came from Japan. 

 Mrs. Emma Prances Hayward writes that her uncle, Captain 

 Richard Swain, sent 250 larches and 250 pines home from 

 Japan. She remembers that her mother and sister saw to 

 their planting on Hinckley Lane about 1912. 20 



The Commonwealth has a considerable evergreen 

 forest on the island. In 1912 white pines were set 

 out 46 but Nantucket is not a favorable climate for 

 white pine. Their foliage is sparse and the hurricane 

 of 19^4 resulted in a complete browning of the needles. 

 White pine, Scotch pine and spruce have been set along 

 the Siasconset road but only the Scotch pine holds its 

 own with the earlier colonist, the pitch pine. The 

 twisted, silvery needles of the Scotch pine add a pleas- 

 ant note in the green of the road border. 



For the deciduous trees, so abundant about town, 

 there are few dated records of introduction. The syca- • 

 more must have been early introduced. Godfrey writes in 

 1882, "Probably the oldest and largest tree on the island 

 is a sycamore which stands on the corner of Main Street 

 and Ray's Court, and it is a beautiful sight in summer." 16 

 Today it is a decrepit tree with concrete filling and 

 the few branches that remain are overshadowed by a syca- 

 more maple which offers a chance to compare the leaves 

 of the true sycamore with those of its namesake among 

 the maples. This tree has struggled against more than 

 wind and salt spray. Guba, in his list of Nantucket 

 fungi, stops to speak of the bid sycamore. "This famous 

 old tree, cited in many publications on Nantucket shows 

 the effect of many years of struggle with infections of 

 this anthracnose fungus." 18 



Douglas-Lithgow records the introduction in 1821 

 of the "two-thorn acacia," 10 probably the black locust, 



