THE ROMANCE OF OUR TREES 



or pan and use them for table decorations, but as a 

 dwarfed tree the Ginkgo is not much in request in 

 Japan. 



As far as authentic records go the oldest Ginkgo- 

 trees in this country are the two in Woodlands 

 Cemetery, Philadelphia, which were planted by 

 William Hamilton in 1784. The largest, a male, 

 measures 7 feet 7 inches in girth of trunk, the other is 

 female and measures 6 feet 6 inches in girth. Both 

 are fully 75 feet tall and in vigorous health. Profes- 

 sor Harshberger, to whom I am indebted for the 

 above measurements, thinks the Ginkgo in the old 

 Bartram Garden in West Philadelphia is the oldest 

 and the first planted in America, basing his opinion 

 on the facts that this garden is older than that 

 founded by Hamilton and that the tree is larger, 

 being 9 feet 3 inches in girth. I have told of the old 

 tree on Boston Common, and in the Public Gardens 

 of Boston there are a number of fine trees, the best 

 being 60 feet tall and 7 feet in girth of trunk. In 

 Mount Auburn Cemetery, Cambridge, Mass., there is 

 a handsome specimen, probably planted under the di- 

 rection of Dr. Jacob Bigelow soon after the cemetery 

 was started, which the Assistant Superintendent, 

 Mr. John Peterson, kindly informs me is about 88 

 feet high and 7 feet 1 1 inches in girth at five feet from 

 the ground. Unfortunately the symmetry of the 

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