146 



THE GARDENERS' MONTHLY 



[May, 



The Chestnut also furnishes some illustrious ex- 

 amples of great size and longevity. One near 

 Lake Geneva is 46 feet in circumference, and is 

 supposed to be a stunted specimen at that, having 

 been struck several times with lightning. Some 

 of the chestnut trees on Mt. .-Etna are 36 feet in 

 diameter. But the tree of this species found in 

 that locality is 160 feet in circumference, and has 

 an opening through it at the base large enough 

 to allow two carriages to be driven through it 

 abreast. 



The Linden also attains to a great age. One at 

 Neustadt, in Wurtemburg, was an old tree in 1229. 

 Its crown of branches is 400 feet in circumference ; 

 is divided into two great branches, one of which 

 was broken off by a storm more than a century 

 ago ; the other one is 1 10 feet in length. A tree 

 of this species standing near Freiburg is 40 feet in 

 circumference, 75 feet high, and was a noted tree 

 as early as 1476. One at Prilly, near Lausanne, 

 was so large 500 years ago that court was held in 

 its shade. The Yew tree is sometimes remarka- 

 ble for age. One at Foullebec, in France, is es- 

 timated at 1200 years, and one in Scotland is more 

 than 3000 years old. 



Near Trans, on the upper Rhine, stands a syca- 

 more tree 28 feet in circumference, under which a 

 conference was held to organize a Republic in 

 1424. The Plane tree of Godfrey of Bouillon, is 

 claimed to be the most gigantic vegetable organ- 

 ism in existence. Its mass of foliage rises more 

 than 180 feet in height, and is 340 feet in circum- 

 ference. This tree, or rather forest, consists of a 

 double trunk that measures 35 feet round, then a 

 space of 15 feet burned out, then a single trunk 

 17 feet in circumference, then a group of six 

 trunks united in one measuring 70 feet in circum- 

 ference. 



The Baobab is one of the most remarkable trees 

 that grow. It is not unusual for them to measure 

 70 to 77 feet around and often reach 100, and they 

 do not get their growth till 800 years of age. The 

 age of some of them has been estimated at 5000 

 to 6000 years, which would carry them back be- 

 yond the time of Noah's flood, according to com- 

 mon chronology. These large trunks are fre- 

 quently hollow, some having cavities large enough 

 to hold 225 to 250 men. 



The Dragon tree is another tree remarkable for 

 size. One on the Island of Teneriffe measured, 

 ■nearly 100 years ago, 45 feet in circumference. 1 

 But the same tree was measured in 1402 and was , 

 just as large then as it is now. Among the colos- ' 

 sal trees of the world the Eucalyptus of Australia 



stands almost the first. They are often 300 feet 

 high and 25 to 33 feet in diameter. Our own 

 country is not noted for mammoth trees except in 

 one case. I remember when a boy often passing 

 an oak tree that stood nearly a mile south-east of 

 the point where the corners of Henry and Dela- 

 ware counties in Indiana join the line of Randolph 

 county. This tree was nine feet in diameter. 

 Some years ago I heard it had been made into 

 rails. A gentleman told me that in the early part 

 of this century he saw a family living in the hollow 

 of a sycamore tree in the valley of the Ohio river 

 in southern Indiana. The hollow measured 18 

 feet across in the center. Our giant redwoods of 

 California are too well known to need describing 

 here. One that was felled some 30 years ago was 

 450 feet high and 120 feet in circumference ; and 

 being the biggest tree in the world it may well 

 close this article. Canon City, Col. 



EDITORIAL NOTES. 



A Live Wooden Fence. — A large land-holder 

 in England has planted an immense fruit farm, 

 40,000 plum trees being one of the items set out. 

 In order to make a perfect thief-proof fence, he 

 has surrounded the farm with cotton-wood poplars 

 set only a foot and a half apart. By the time the 

 fruit trees are in bearing the trunks of the trees 

 will touch each other. Then he proposes to head 

 them off 18 feet from the ground, and keep the 

 sprouts cut back to this point every two or three 

 years thereafter. In this way he expects to have 

 a living wall 18 feet high, that will at least last as 

 long as the fruit trees in the orchard last. 



Forest Commission in California.- — This 

 State has established a forest commission and voted 

 them $5,000 for two years. We shall probably 

 learn at the end of that period that the forests of 

 California are rapidly disappearing before fire and 

 the axe, and that " unless something is done Cali- 

 fornia will become a howling wilderness." It will 

 be worth #5,000 to learn this very interesting fact. 



Wood of the Butternut Tree.— Quite a de- 

 mand has sprung up for the Butternut wood for 

 making wooden shoes. These shoes are coming 

 into extensive use in breweries and other industrial 

 establishments where the floors are damp. They 

 are much warmer than the best leather-soled shoes 

 under such circumstances, and have not the 

 oppressive condensation of moisture characteristic 

 of gum. 



