FAMOUS TREES AT GEORGETOWN CONVENT 



495 



oak galls is the C. scminator shown in Figure lo; it 

 looks like a little ball of white wool, dotted all over, 

 rather sparingly, with small pink dots. As contrasted 

 with the green leaves, it has the appearance of some 

 fruit or other, and it is sure to attract the attention of 

 the passer-by in the oak woods where it occurs. Often 

 three or four of them are to be seen on some sapling oak 

 only a few feet above the ground. 



From what I have endeavored to bring out in the 

 present article, it will be seen that the study of galls is 

 not only a very interesting one but one of decided 

 importance. Most of them can be easily preserved in 

 one way or another in the herbarium, or for exhibition 

 in the public school museum. School children should be 

 encouraged to collect all the diflferent kinds of gall they 

 come across in the woods and fields ; to make good 

 photographs of them, and to properly prepare all the 

 insects, moths and larvae responsible for their appear- 

 ance. In a very few years such a collection comes to be 

 of value especially if scientifically and tastefully ar- 

 ranged with all the data relating to it. 



have suffered from violent storms and the effects of ex- 

 treme old age. Had it not been for the good work of 

 the tree surgeon they would probably have been de- 

 stroyed before now. The gnarled trunks are full of old 



'Tis always tnorning somewhere, and above 

 The awakening continents, from shore to shore. 

 Somewhere the birds are singing evermore. 



Longfellow'. 



Famous Trees at 



Georgetown Convent 



TT' VERY fair graduate of the Georgetown Convent 

 ^ knows these trees, nominated for the Hall of Fame 

 for trees with a history by Mary A. Easby-Smith, his- 

 torian of the convent alumnae. Mrs. Smith informs the 

 American Forestry Association that this aged Jefferson 

 pecan on the Convent grounds grew from a nut given 

 by President Jefferson, more than a century ago, to Mr. 

 Threlkeld, who formerly owned a part of the Convent 

 grounds. In a letter to Mr. Threlkeld, dated March 26, 

 1807, Jefferson says : 



"Presuming you are devoted to the culture of trees, I 

 take the liberty of sending you some pecan nuts which, 

 being of the last year's growth, received from New Or- 

 leans, will probably grow." 



The tree is now 65 feet high and measures seven feet 

 in circumference. Two copper beeches which Mrs. 

 Smith also nominates for the Hall of Fame are a land- 

 mark in that part of the city. They may be seen from 

 the front lawn of Georgetown College, and from there 

 have the appearance of one big tree with a crown like an 

 immense copper dome. 



It is impos-sible to guess the age of these venerable 

 trees, which have stood as silent guardians of the play- 

 grounds of several generations of Georgetown's fair 

 alumnae. They were in the prime of their strength and 

 beauty during the Civil War, as several of us can attest. 

 says Mrs. Smith, but during the past fifty years they 



THE JEFFERSON PECAN IN THE C'O.WKNT GROLNDS 



initials and dates, the only one of which we can now de- 

 cipher is "44." The circumference of the beeches (five 

 feet from the ground) are 13 feet and 11 feet, respec- 

 tively. One cannot give a real diameter, as they are by 

 no means round. The height is very close to 90 feet, 

 and the combined crown of both is sixty feet. (See page 

 450-) 



THE WOODS 



How good it is to ramble where the winds and water roll 

 And the harbingers of Nature with the,ir gladness fill the soul. 

 nnHE woods at first convey the impression of profound 

 repose, and yet, if you watch their ways with open 

 ear, you find the life which is in them is restless and 

 nervous as that of a woman ; the little twigs are crossing 

 and twining and separating like slender fingers that 

 cannot be still, the stray leaf is to be flattened into its 

 place like a truant curl ; the limbs sway and twist, im- 

 patient of their constrained attitude ; and the rounded 

 masses of foliage swell upward and subside from time to 

 time with soft long sighs, and. it may be, the falling of a 

 few raindrops which had lain hidden among the deeper 

 shadows. Oliver Wendell Holmes. 



