AMERICAN FORESTRY 



287 



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HALL OF FAME" FOR TREES 



Every year two tons of grapes are taken from this vine 

 said to have been planted by Sir Walter Raleigh's colonists. 

 That is the reason for nominating this, the Largest Scup- 

 pernong Grape Vine in the world, for a place in the Hall of 

 Fame. The vine is on Roanoke Island, North Carolina, and 

 A. D. Dart, who makes the nomination for a place in "Who's 

 Who" of things that grow, says the vine is 300 years old. It 

 has to be propped up for it covers more than an acre of 

 ground. A Mr. Meekins, who purchased the farm in 1797, 

 told a grandson that the vine was then about the sise it is 

 now. Many of the branches of the vine have taken root and 

 the main branch has a circumference of sixty-nine inches. 



Every Oberlin College "grad" knows the old Elm on the 

 corner of the campus at Main and College Streets. This tree 

 is given a place in the Hall of Fame because beneath this 

 tree in 1833 the first log house in Oberlin was built. This 



THE OLD ELM AT OBERLIN 



ivas the start of Oberlin College, Ohio, soon after to be 

 known to fame as the first educational institution in the world 

 to admit women on an equal footing with men. In those 

 days co-education was only spoken of in whispers. Lucy 

 Stone, the original suffragist, was graduated from this school. 

 The Elm has been marked by a bronze tablet and the tree 

 encircled in a fence. 



The Bartrams' Botanical Gardens in Philadelphia were 

 especially noted, both in America and England, for their ex- 

 tremely large cypress trees. 



No botanical garden of any size is complete without a 

 cypress. There are reasons for this choice reasons, pretty 

 and sentimental, and the Bartram Cypress has been nominated 

 by Miss Viola Overman. 



The cypress is considered a sacred tree. It is believed to 

 have graced the celestial Garden of Paradise. The cypress is 

 as well a mysterious tree. It is sad, gloomy, and always 

 mourning. 



None of the Bartram Cypresses are standing today. A 

 massive bole of one is being preserved to show the immensity 

 that the cypress, under favorable circumstances, can achieve. 

 Philadelphia has not forgotten John Bartram and his son. 

 To perpetuate their memory and to keep fresh in mind their 

 botanical achievements, accomplished under so much difficulty, 

 there was organized twenty years ago a Bartram Memorial 



Courtesy of p n*d 



THE BARTRAM CYPRESS 



Library Committee. This committee, in that time, has col- 

 lected many hundred volumes, illustrating the progress of 

 American botany. At stated periods, opportunity is given 

 for visitors to examine the precious books and to listen to 

 learned botanists discuss them. 



