THE LARGEST SHADE TREEE 



195 



1 was struck by the fact that the 

 squirrels seemed to go directly to each 

 nut ; they did not dig about haphazard. 

 In order to experiment a bit I placed 

 a number of the acorns an inch or so 

 beneath the surface of the sand in a 

 row, and the next morning they were 

 all gone. 



Wishing to determine the depth at 

 which the squirrels detect the presence 

 of these acorns beneath the surface of 

 wet sand, I buried a row of acorns at a 

 depth of 2.y2 inches. The following 

 morning it was found that the squirrel 

 which found this row had apparently 

 not been unerring. He had found some 

 of the nuts and left some of the others. 

 This gave the impression that perhaps 

 a limit for him was not far from 2^ 

 inches' depth. 



Yesterday morning on going quietly 

 to the pool I saw a gray squirrel indus- 

 triously digging in the sand near the 

 water's edge. He had scooped out a 

 hole about as big as an ordinary teacup 

 saucer and which was full of water — he 

 kept on digging in the water. When 

 he espied me he ran olT. I went to his 

 little pool and scooped out a handful 

 of the sand but there was no nut there. 

 Another handful of sand still more 

 deeply down was taken, with no nut. 

 I then made up my mind that the sqttir- 

 rel had been engaged in some tmusual 

 procedure at that particular point, not 

 relating to the question of nuts, but on 

 second thought decided to make a final 

 search. At a depth of nearly six inches 

 three acorns were found lying almost 

 in contact with each other. The squir- 

 rel had evidently smelled these acorns 

 through six inches of wet sand before 

 he began digging, and the presence of 

 water in the hole did not change his 

 determination. 



There is no doubt but these acorns 

 are somewhat "high." I am enclosing 

 one of them to the editor. 



If anyone cares to suggest any par- 

 ticular experiment in this connection, 

 I will try and carry it out, for the 

 acorns and the squirrels will both be at 

 band. 



The Largest Shade Tree. 

 _A sycamore near Worthington, In- 

 diana, has been declared by the American 

 Genetic Association of Washington. D.C.. 

 to be the largest shade tree in the United 



States. The measurements and other 

 details of interest are given by "The 

 Journal of Heredity" as follows : 



"I ft. above the ground. . .45 ft. 3 in. 



5 ft. aljove the ground. . .42 ft. 3 in. 



East branch 27 ft. 8 in. 



West branch 23 ft. 2 in. 



"The height is said to have been re- 

 duced considerably in recent years by 

 wind and lightning; it is now estimated 

 at 150 feet, while the spread is about lOO 

 feet. As far as is known, these are the 

 largest authentic measurements of a syca- 

 more now living. 



"The American sycamore (Plat anus 

 occidentalis) is more correctly called the 

 plane tree ; is is not related to the Biblical 

 sycamore (Ficits sycamoris) , a species of 

 fig), mentioned particularly in connec- 

 tion with Zaccheus who, as the old 

 Primer put it, 'did climb a tree, his Lord 

 to see.' The American sycamore is also 

 knowai in some parts of the country as 

 the buttonwood or buttonball, in allu- 

 sion to its large seed-balls, which hang 

 on the tree all winter. 



"The tree here illustrated is located in 

 the rich alluvial loam of the White River 

 bottom. As this stream frequently over- 

 flows its banks, it periodically deposits a 

 layer of silt around the tree; but the 

 floods appear to have done no damage to 

 it, although on one occasion it is said the 

 water reached as high as the fork, 15 feet 

 from the ground. It may be believed that 

 this frequent deposit of alluvium is one 

 of the factors which has caused the great 

 growth of the tree. Many other large 

 sycamores, beech and walnut trees have 

 been produced in the same locality, but 

 most of them have been long since felled 

 for lumber. One of the sycamores which 

 met this fate was so large that it could 

 not be hauled to the mill, but was floated 

 down the river; another, cut in the last 

 few years within 500 yards of 'the big 

 tree,' as the prize winner has been known 

 in the region since the first settlers ar- 

 rived, made five lo-foot logs, the largest 

 of them 60 inches in diameter and measur- 

 ing 1, 960 board feet. The tap log was 

 about 43 inches in diameter. These figures 

 give some idea of the amount of lumber 

 that a single one of these giants will 

 yield. 



"As are most large sycamores, the base 

 of this tree is hollow, the opening being 

 on the opposite side from that shown in 

 the photograph. Fire has recently dam- 

 aged it." 



