RARE AND NOTABLE PLANTS 



ing" of 1849: "Stenton, near German- 

 town, four miles from Philadelphia, 

 is a fine old place, with. many pictur- 

 esque features. The farm consists of 

 700 acres, almost without division 

 fences — admirably arranged — and re- 

 markable for a grand old avenue of 

 the hemlock spruce (abies canaden- 

 sis) , 110 years old, leading to a family 

 cemetery of much sylvan beauty." 

 This same "splendid avenue of 

 hemlocks," described later by Town- 

 send Ward, is no more, and of inter- 

 est at Stenton now is but a tulip 

 poplar, a large plane tree (platanus 

 occidentalis), a few persimmon trees 

 (diospyrus virginiana) and a row of 

 Lombardy poplars (populus dilatata), 

 plants surpassed by many with us, 

 and by two plants of exceptional mer- 

 it, one a wide-spreading black walnut 

 (juglans nigra), appearing to the 

 south of the mansion, and the other 

 a notable elm (ulmus Americana), 

 having a trunk 4 feet in diameter and 

 a top spreading at a height of 120 

 feet, a plant which on part of Stenton 

 grounds disposed of, may now be 

 seen in the yard of Dr. William H. 

 Hickok, northeast corner of Eigh- 

 teenth and Cayuga streets, a magnifi- 



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