Photographs of Large Trees 



415 



gigantea) can be found which are almost 

 as large in diameter as the Worthington 

 sycamore is in circumference. 



As was expected, all the nut-bearing 

 trees proved to be considerably smaller 

 than this sycamore. The California 

 oak was easily first, but a close second 

 was the big chestnut near Crestmont, 

 N. C, sent in by E. O. Abernethy. At 

 7 feet from the ground this specimen 

 measured iZ feet 4 inches in circumfer- 

 ence, and owing to the peculiar forma- 

 tion of the trunk, it would have yielded 

 much larger figures, if measured at a 

 lower point. It is fair to assitme that 

 the chestnut represents the largest 

 nut-bearing tree in the eastern United 

 States, and is only surpassed by the 

 huge oaks of the Pacific coast. 



On this subject, Michaux wrote 

 (III, p. 12): The chestnut "prefers 

 the sides of the mountains or their 

 immediate vicinity, where the soil in 

 general is gravelly, though deep enough 

 to sustain its perfect development. The 

 Chestnut of the Old World attains its 

 greatest expansion in similar situations: 

 an example is said to exist on Mount 

 Etna of a Chestnut 160 feet in circumfer- 

 ence, or about 53 feet in diameter, and 

 large enough to shelter 100 men on 

 horseback beneath its branches; but 

 its trunk is hollowed by time almost to 

 its bark; near it stand several others 

 more than 75 feet in circumference. At 

 Sancerre, in the Department of the 

 Cher, 120 miles from Paris, there is a 

 chestnut which at 6 feet from the 

 ground, is 30 feet in circumference; 

 600 years ago it was called the Great 

 Chestnut and, although it is supposed 

 to be more than 1,000 years old, its 

 trunk is still perfectly sound and its 

 branches annually laden with fruit. 

 I have never met with instances of such 

 extraordinary growth in the United 

 States; but the American species is 

 probably susceptible of an equal devel- 

 opment, since in the forests of North 

 Carolina, it is commonly as large and 

 as tall as the corresponding species in 

 those of Europe. I have measured 

 several stocks which at 6 feet from the 

 ground, were 15 or 16 feet in circumfer- 

 ence, and which equalled the loftiest 

 trees in stature." 



Compared with this North Carolina 

 specimen, the big chestnuts Michaux 

 saw in the United States seem decidedly 

 small. The one figured here (Fig. 9) 

 appears to have been overlooked bv 

 all the botanists of the United States, 

 none of whom mentions a specimen so 

 large; but the figures in this case are 

 given by professional lumbermen, who 

 have had enough experience to know 

 how trees are measured. In spite of 

 Michaux's prediction, it appears that 

 even at its maximum, the American 

 species {Castanea dentata) does not 

 attain such a large size as the European 

 species (Castanea sativa); Elwes and 

 Henry say (IV, p. 847) in regard to the 

 English record : 



"There is no doubt that the most 

 celebrated, and perhaps the oldest 

 planted tree in England, is the Tort- 

 worth chestnut. . . . Strutt says that 

 in 1766 it measured 50 feet in circum- 

 ference at 5 feet from the ground. . . . 

 It was said by Sir R. Atkyns, in his 

 'History of Gloucestershire,' p. 413, 

 to have been growing in King John's 

 reign, and to have been '197 yards in 

 compass.' At present it is by no means 

 a beautiful tree, and so much of its 

 original trunk is decayed that no 

 measurement is of much value." 



MAGNIFICENT ELMS 



The elms of the eastern United States 

 are among the largest shade trees, and 

 the _ finest living specimen of this 

 species (Ulmus americana) is probably 

 the historic one at Wethersfield, Conn', 

 reproduced in Fig. 10. Its history is 

 described interestingly in a letter 

 from Jared B. Standish, president of 

 the Village Improvement Association. 

 Wethersfield, it will be remembered, 

 was settled in 1634, and is considered 

 the first civil settlement in Connecticut. 

 There seems to have been a wave of 

 enthusiasm for civic beautification, 

 twenty-five or fifty years after the 

 founding, and it is believed that the 

 Great Elm was planted at that time. 

 In many of the pretty villages of the 

 Connecticut River Valley, a row of 

 elms through the middle of the entire 

 village, with a road on each side, was 

 established at that time. 



