RARE AND NOTABLE PLANTS 



portioned, having a trunk 2 feet in di- 

 ameter and a height of 30 feet. Also 

 here on the front lawn is a tulip pop- 

 lar, measured by John Warr and 

 George Redles, a tree 5 feet in diam- 

 eter, ivy-covered from the ground to 

 its first limb at 40 feet, and rising to 

 a height of 130 feet, a noble specimen 

 equal to celebrated relatives growing 

 on the Virginian mountains, where the 

 species is said to attain its greatest 

 development; truly a tree, especially 

 when in bloom, deserving Benjamin 

 Franklin's designation — "King of the 

 American forests." 



Passing for the present "Little 

 Wakefield," we halt in lower Fisher's 

 lane to note a most interesting white 

 oak (quercus alba), long familiar to 

 me, but which I overlooked until di- 

 rected again to it by George Redles. 

 This is a rugged tree 4 feet in diameter 

 and 60 feet high, perfectly formed, and 

 growing on the top of a rock it has 

 cleft in twain. 



William E. S. Baker, in "Widow 

 Seymour," accurately locates this tree 

 "between the Wakefield mills in Fish- 

 er's Hollow, close by the bank of the 

 Wingohocken creek, and at the curve 

 of the lane." "The immense flat- 



33 



