72 WORCESTER COUNTY HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. [1893. 



The largest elm tree in Worcester County, and in Massachusetts 

 for that matter, is distant only about one-fourth of a mile east from 

 the railroad station in the centre village of Lancaster. • Its great 

 dome-shaped top, reaching to an altitude of ninety-six feet, is dis- 

 cernible from the railroad station, and the visitor in Lancaster is all 

 aglow with anticipation as he approaches the tree over the highway. 

 Memories of other great elms he has seen and measured are recalled, 

 and remembering how impressing was the greatness of these he in- 

 stinctively prepares himself for a yet deeper impression as he shall 

 view in its entirety this greatest of Massachusetts elms. But in this 

 respect he is destined to disappointment, for as more and more the 

 tree is disclosed to sight, less does one realize that it is of such great 

 proportions, but when once a journey round the tree begins one per- 

 ceives and comprehends that it is a giant among its fellows. This 

 great tree stands near a lane or cart road, called " Lovers' Lane," 

 and is an historic thoroughfare, as it has been used for public pur- 

 poses since 1660, or for 232 years. 



Standing near the base of the tree, and peering into its branches, 

 one then, as nowhere else, perceives the great height of the tree, and 

 again walking across the diameter of its spread the breadth and com- 

 pass of its great branches and their terminals is comprehended. The 

 greatest diameter of its spread is 117 feet, and five feet above the 

 ground the tree girths 24 feet and 4 inches. Forty-seven years ago 

 Ralph Waldo Emerson measured the tree, and recorded that two feet 

 above all bulging of the roots it was 20 feet and 9 inches in circum- 

 ference. The existing dimensions of the tree, when compared by the 

 record made by Emerson, shows a fine growth in these past forty- 

 seven years, although not so marked as was anticipated by a boy of 

 ten or eleven years, whom I found working in a near-by field on a 

 recent visit to the tree. When within 100 feet or so of the tree I 

 asked the boy its circumference, and he replied that he thought it was 

 26 feet, because last summer it was 25 feet. 



Not only has Lancaster a great number of trees along its streets 

 and roads, and many of notable dimensions, but its trees also, as a 

 rule, are characterized by a beauty of form and growth that is rare 

 and remarkable. On the road leading to Harvard I found an elm 

 which, five feet from the ground, had a. girth of 17 feet, 9 inches. 

 Another near tlie Wilder residence, at five feet, has a circumference 

 of 17 feet and 2 inches. Specially noticeable among the elms of 

 Lancaster are those of the feathered type. These may be seen dot- 



