A GIANT ELM. ? 35 



A GIANT ELM. 



N. A. M. ROE. 



In an unfrequented part of Maasachusetts ia a tree more remark- 

 able than many of the hiatoric treea. In a place only to be reached 

 by a croaa-road atanda a giant elm, the apread of whoae branchea I 

 am sure is not equalled by any tree of the same species in the state. 

 It doea not stand straight and tall, with plumey top, as New Eng- 

 land elms are wont to do, but reaches out its arms on every side, as 

 if to take the whole region round about into its protecting care. It 

 stands in that part of Framingham called Salem End. We came 

 suddenly upon the tree, driving under one of its branches which 

 stretches over the road and some distance beyond into the orchard 

 on the opposite side. The extreme length of the limb from one side 

 of the tree to the other is 138 feet, north and south. It stands in the 

 yard of an old-fashioned white house, a long two-story building, 

 completely in the shadow of the monster tree. Needless to say the 

 inmates are proud of their tree and perfectly willing to answer any 

 and all questions concerning it. A few years ago they built a rus- 

 tic atairway up the trunk and out along one of the big straight 

 branchea. Twenty- two feet from the center of the tree and twenty- 

 one feet eix inchea from the ground, ia a apacioua platform with a 

 rustic rail around it. 



Wonder grows as we walk about the enormous trunk. The cir- 

 cumference over the swell of the roots is thirty-six feet, while four 

 feet higher, where the tree divides, it is twenty-two feet. Here one 

 trunk is fifteen feet two inches and the other twelve feet nine inches 

 in circumference. The branches on one side of the tree touch the 

 ground and then start up again, thus making a convenient curve 

 for a seat, a veritable rocking chair. On the side next the house and 

 barna I suppoae trimming has kept them from growing eo low. 

 There are treea in the state much higher than this, for, as nearly as 

 can be estimated, it is but eighty-five feet. 



As seen from a distance it looks like an immense oak, but closer 

 inspection of its leaves and bark shows it an elm. It was planted 

 in 1775, It is still green and vigorous, bears no sign of decay as yet, 

 and year after year the oriolea hang their neata from its drooping 

 branches, and robins sing the glory of their magnificent dwelling 

 place. It has seen generations come and go, and if the courses of 

 nature do not change will see several more come and go. — Orange 

 Judd Farmer. 



The Sand Cherry a Poor Stock. — "Some six or seven years ago 

 we grafted plum on sand-cherry. The scions used were Wyant, 

 Rockford, Wolf and Desoto. Some of these treea fruited in 1897 and 

 all of them fruited in 1898. The fruit we found to be of inferior aize 

 and quality, in fact about worthless. We advise caution in using 

 sand-cherry as a stock for plum." 



Charles F. Gardner, Osage, la. 

 What is the experience of others? — Sec'y. 



