IOO NATURAL HISTORY AND TOPOGRAPHY OF GROTON, MASS. 



THE GROWTH OF TREES. 



MANY years ago I set out some small trees in my father's 

 yard, and at the time I jotted down the date in a current copy 

 of the Old Farmer's Almanac. They consisted of a few elms, 

 maples, and ash-trees ; and at that time not one of them had 

 more than two years' growth. According to the record in 

 the almanac, they were transplanted on May 3, 1852; and, 

 after a period of forty-five years, I noted the size of the trunks 

 of the largest. The measurements of these trees were taken 

 by me on July 6, 1897 ; and at a height of four feet from the 

 ground they gave a circumference as follows : — 



An elm, six feet two inches; another elm, five feet six 

 inches ; an ash, five feet six inches ; a maple, five feet three 

 inches; and another ash, four feet six inches. The first elm 

 noted in this paragraph was struck by lightning on Sunday, 

 June 13, 1897, but fortunately was not damaged to any great 

 extent. 



Every tree in my front yard — and there is a large variety 

 of kinds — was set out by my father during the last eighty 

 years. The elm which stands in the southwest corner of the 

 yard, at a height of four feet from the ground, has a circum- 

 ference of ten feet and three inches ; and another elm at the 

 same height has a circumference of eleven feet and six inches- 

 A third tree of a different variety (JJlmus fulvd), standing in 

 the same line as the other two, near Mrs. Shumway's fence, 

 has a circumference of seven feet eight inches. This seedling 

 was given to me about seventy years ago by the late Honor- 

 able John Boynton, when it was not more than two inches in 

 height, though it was at first set out elsewhere. 



Many years ago Mrs. Anna (Parker) Dodge told me that 

 the ash ( Fraxinus) standing on the westerly side of the road, 

 perhaps twenty rods beyond the stone which marks the site 

 of the first Meeting-house in Groton, was set out by her father 

 when she was a very small girl. The tree is still sound, and 

 at the butt, four feet from the ground, has a circumference of 

 exactly eight feet. In comparison with many other trees the 

 ash is of slow growth. Mrs. Dodge was born on October 28, 

 1801, and died in Boston, on November 4, 1888. 





