l897-] PHINNEY — AN INTERESTING ELM. 243 



Twenty-four regular meetings were held during the year, and the 

 Section took charge of a public meeting of the Academy held at the 

 University of Rochester on May 26, at which a large number of rare 

 plants were shown. 



As in past years, the members of the Section have largely devoted 

 themselves to the collection and identification of the plants of this 

 vicinity, with the purpose of making as complete a record of the flora of 

 the region as possible, and at the same time adding to the herbarium 

 of the Academy. 



January 3, 1896, a communication in regard to a historic elm on 

 Main street was read, as follows : 



AN INTERESTING ELM. 

 By H. K-. Phinney. 



Probably the progress of building will, before long, remove what 

 is, I doubt not, almost the largest and oldest elm tree in Rochester, 

 and certainly one of the few remaining primeval forest trees within 

 the city limits. Before it falls it seems proper to call the attention of 

 the Botanical Section to some points of interest regarding it. 



The tree stands in a vacant lot on the south side of East Main 

 street, just east of Alexander street. It measures as follows : at sur- 

 face of ground, the lot having been considerably filled up, 18 feet, 6 

 inches ; at three to four feet above ground, above the flare of the root 

 buttresses, 14 feet, 3 inches ; at 7 feet above the ground, 13 feet, 9 

 inches. The spread of the branches is more remarkable than the girth 

 of the trunk. This is, in a line nearly east and west, 98 feet, and in a 

 line northeast to southwest, 100 feet, 6 inches. In other directions 

 it is perhaps two-thirds as great, neighboring trees having hindered 

 growth. The present height of the tree is 60 feet, but it was formerly 

 much greater. The head of the trunk met some catastrophe years 

 ago, and I am informed by Mr. H. C. Heath, who lives in the first 

 house on the east, that within the time of his residence there, twenty 

 odd years, at least 20 feet of the trunk has fallen down, and that the 

 fallen portion was from a foot to fifteen inches in diameter. If it was a 

 foot in diameter at 80 feet hight, the highest twigs borne above such a 

 trunk must have considerably exceeded 100 feet in height. This ren- 

 ders it quite certain that the tree attained its growth vertically while still 

 surrounded by the close forest ; that the head was broken down by 



