110 THE BUCKEYE. 
said to have made it his place of meeting with Annie 
Boleyn, while she was living at Staines; and Magna 
Charta was signed within sight of it, on the island in 
the Thames between Runnymede and Ankerwyke. 
The girth of this tree, at 3 feet from the ground, is 
27 feet 8 inches. 
In the eastern part of the United States, the Yew 
is barely more than a small bush, seldom above a few 
feet high; while in the west it becomes a fine large 
tree of some 40 to 60 feet in height, and about 2 or 3 
feet in diameter. It is here one of the most conspi- 
cuous trees of the forest. The Indians of Oregon 
use the wood of this tree for making bows, it being 
very tough, heavy, and elastic. 
Many of the trees of our American forests at some 
seasons of the year are laden with the most beautiful 
blossoms, which are often very conspicuous, and some- 
times diffusing a rich fragrance around them. The 
appearance of an apple or peach-orchard in the spring 
is an object so familiar, that its beauty is not appre- 
ciated by many. 
The Buckeye, a species of Horse Chestnut which 
grows in Ohio, whose early blossoms are the resort 
of the Humming-birds upon their arrival from the 
South; the Catalpa, a familiar ornament around our 
farm-houses; the Kentucky Coffee, a native of the 
Western States; and the Pride of India, one of the 
most lovely objects that adorns the gardens of the 
South, are all showy and ornamental trees. 
The Locust also is a very valuable addition to the 
list of our botanical friends; and its long bunches of 
