ORNAMENTAL TREES. 53 



symmetrical shape. I think it is a promising tree, particu- 

 larly for ornament. 



Mr. IIapgood (of SIn-ewsbury). The paper to which we 

 have listened is a very able and comprehensive one, and I 

 am much interested in the subject. The trees on my land 

 were all planted by myself. There was not a tree on it 

 when I bought it, neither in my jDf^sture nor on my farm. 

 The elm-tree is my favorite, and the rock-maple is another 

 one for which I have a preference. I have some rock-maples 

 along the street in front of my farm for nearly half a mile : 

 they were planted about twenty-five years ago, and they 

 are from sixteen to eighteen inches in diameter now; the 

 trunks are fifty feet high or more, and the branches extend 

 laterally forty feet. It is a magnificent line of trees. 

 Between the elm and rock-maple, I hardly know which is to 

 be preferred. My objection to the elm-tree is, that the droop- 

 ing character of its branches is such that it is liable to be 

 damaged by ice in winter. My elm-trees have suffered very 

 badly by having the large branches break off; but I have 

 pruned them up, and they have recovered in part, although 

 they are not in so good a condition as they would otherwise 

 have been. The hemlock is a beautiful tree : I admire it. 

 In driving to Worcester, years ago, I noticed the hemlocks 

 near Quinsigamond Lake, and I determined to have some of 

 them on my ground : so I took my man, and went down 

 there. We got some that had attained a good size (taking 

 them up carefully), and planted them ; and every one of 

 them died. 



The Chaieiman. A question has been presented here, 

 which some one wishes to have answered, and perhaps there 

 will be no better time to have it answered than now. The 

 question is this : Do apples from trees the trunks of which 

 have become diseased keep as well as apples from healthy 

 trees ? Can any one here answer it ? 



Mr. Benjamin P. Waee (of Marblehead). Mr. Chair- 

 man, I have no hesitation in stating that apples from an 

 unhealthy stock will not keep so well as those from a tree in 

 a healthy condition. I have, in my own orchard, several 

 trees that from some causes are unhealthy and diseased. 

 The apples from those trees will not keep anywhere near as 

 well as apples from vigorous trees. Even if the trees are 



