Photographs of Large Trees 



417 



In the early days of Wethersfield, 

 open-air meetings were held under the 

 Great Elm, and Charles Wesley deliv- 

 ered a sermon there in his tour through 

 the Colonies in 1750. 



In recent years the tree has been 

 threatened, both by decay and by 

 insects, but the Village Improvement 

 Society has acted promptly in both 

 cases, and the tree gives promise of 

 ornamenting the village for many years 

 to come. It is commonly believed by 

 the inhabitants to be the largest elm in 

 the country, and this appears to be 

 correct. The association is in receipt 

 of a photograph of a much larger elm 

 of the same species from Morgantown, 

 W. Va., but the latter specimen is now 

 nothing more than a 50 foot stump, 

 thanks to the indiscreet precaution 

 taken eight years ago, of trimming it 

 far more severely than it could endure. 



Next to this, the finest elm reported 

 is the "Rathbone Elm," a beautiful 

 specimen located in Rathbone addition 

 to Marietta, Ohio, which was photo- 

 graphed by H. P. Fischer of Marietta. 

 It is 27 feet in circumference, 85 feet 

 high, and in symmetry is quite the equal 

 of the Connecticut specimen. 



Both these specimens are larger than 

 those which the literature cites. Elwes 

 and Henry, for example, discussing the 

 elm in New England, where it is par- 

 ticularly at home and particularly dear 

 to the inhabitants, remark (VII, p. 

 1856): 



"Though some of the historic trees 

 mentioned by Emerson and other writers 

 are now dead and decayed, there are 

 still many splendid survivors of the 

 original forest. Among these none is 

 larger and more symmetrical than the 

 Lancaster Elm in Massachusetts, which 

 Professor Sargent showed me in May, 

 1904. It grows on deep sandy soil in 

 the rich valley of the Nashua River, 

 and measured 105 feet by 24 feet at 

 5 feet from the ground." 



One of the interesting features of the 

 contest has been the revelation of the 

 niomber of trees in different localities 

 which are locally reputed to be the 

 biggest of the kind in the country. An 

 elm at Somersworth, N. H., for instance, 

 which is said to be considered by people 



in that section as the largest in the 

 United States, proved to be only 14 feet 

 2 inches in circumference. By the 

 side of such a specimen as the one lately 

 killed at Morgantown, W. Va. (Fig. 11), 

 this New Hampshire tree looks like a 

 sapling, although in a grove of ordinary 

 elms it would be most imposing in 

 appearance. 



THE SASSAFRAS RECORD 



In many cases, the trees in which 

 local pride expends itself are relatively 

 insignificant specimens. An amusing 

 instance of this is the sassafras, a tree 

 which most people think of rather as a 

 shrub, to be grubbed out of fields with 

 much labor. Not long ago a town in 

 Georgia made the modest announcement 

 that it has the largest sassafras tree in 

 the world — something over 7 feet in 

 circiimference. Jackson County, Ohio, 

 immediately took up the challenge and 

 ostentatiously produced a specimen 

 of 7 feet in circumference at 3 feet from 

 ground; whereupon Madison County, 

 Ohio, jumped into the fray with a loud 

 noise and a sassafras tree 9 feet 2 inches 

 in circumference at that height, 8 feet 

 7 inches in girth at 5 feet from the 

 ground. 



This association has received from 

 J. B. Corbin, of Juniata, Blair County, 

 Pa., photographs of a beautifiil sassafras 

 9 feet 7 inches in circumference at 7 feet 

 from the ground; but all of these 

 specimens are dwarfed by one at Hor- 

 sham, Pa., 16 miles north of Philadel- 

 phia. This specimen was brought to 

 light by W. H. Lamb, of the Forest 

 Service, who secured photographs and 

 description of it from Isaac Parry, of 

 Horsham; its smallest girth, at 4 feet 

 from the ground, is 15 feet 10 inches. 



Some of these trees which are the 

 particular objects of local pride have 

 special points that are noteworthy, but 

 do not bring them under the rules of 

 this contest. Thus, many trees make 

 up in height or spread what they lack 

 in girth ; but as girth is the only measure- 

 ment which the ordinary person can 

 take with accuracy, it seemed necessary 

 to depend largely on this, in determining 

 the merits of the trees submitted in 

 this contest. 



