INTRODUCTION 



between the sycamore or buttonwood (Plati- 

 nus occidentalis) and the red oak (Quercus 

 rubra). Noble specimens of the white pine 

 (Pinus strobus), the chestnut (Castanea den- 

 tata) the European linden (Tilia vulgaris), 

 the willow (Salix nigra), the black walnut 

 (Juglans nigra) and the hackberry (Celtis 

 occidentalis) also abound. And the reader 

 will be interested to know that there still 

 stands an historic pear tree, boasting the 

 ripe old age of two hundred and ninety years. 

 The present volume is concerned, prima- 

 rily, with trees of established celebrity, and 

 may be said to be a brief historical treatise 

 covering the period previous to the Civil 

 War, and written from the standpoint of 

 trees as witnesses of the events herein chron- 

 icled. Some individual specimens have 

 doubtless been overlooked, and other facts 

 than those recorded here may be known by 

 the oldest inhabitant. The author has, how- 

 ever, attempted to seek out the best known 

 trees throughout the whole area of the 

 state, and to surround them with the best 

 known facts. Historic data have been 



