AMERICAN FORESTRY 



413 



"HALL OF FAME" FOR TREES 



1812 met here. Then came 

 the Mexican War and the 

 old tree saw men again 

 leave their homes to fight. 

 Next came the struggle 

 between the States, and 

 the oak witnessed the 

 drilling of men to fight 

 one another in their own 

 country. Then came the 

 World War and again the 

 veteran oak saw our boys 

 answer their united coun- 

 try's call. 



The Lafayette Elm at 

 Kcnnebunk, Maine, is 

 widely known throughout 

 Sew England. It was un- 

 der this tree that General 

 Lafayette lunched when he 

 visited Kennebunk while 

 touring the United States. 

 The tree is nominated for 

 a place in the Hall of 

 Fame by Miss Ellen Dar- 

 rach, of West Philadelphia. 



THE LAFAYETTE ELM 



Here is a tree that literally jumps into the Hall of Fame 

 for Trees, for according to J. J. Tisen, of Norris City, 

 Illinois, who makes the nomination, that is just how this 

 tree started. Mr. Tisen writes: 



Hosea Pierce and a boy comrade returned from the 

 War of 1812 to their homes, near Norris City, Illinois. It 

 was in the spring of 1815, and on January 8 of that year 

 they had helped General Jackson whip the British in the 

 Battle of New Orleans. 



These boys both attended a log rolling on the old 

 Pierce farm that spring, and as they were returning to 

 the house after their day's work, made a wager who 

 could vault the farthest, using their cottomvood hand- 

 spikes as vaulting poles. They both left their handspikes 

 sticking in the soft earth where they had vaulted, and 

 during the spring rains of 1815 they both took root 

 and lived. 



One of these trees died about ten years ago and hcrc- 

 ivith is a picture of the other which is still living and is 

 now 105 years old. This tree has a peculiar base on 

 account of the unusual manner of planting; is about 

 30 feet in circumference, 175 feet high with a very large 

 hollow in the base of the tree which has been used as a 

 housing for setting hens, a kennel for dogs and is always 

 a fine playhouse for children. 



The baby boy in white, Lowell Lee Fellinger, standing 

 at the base of this remarkable tree is a distant relative 

 of the fifth generation from this gallant patriot, Hosea 

 Pierce, who helped the great General Jackson "lick" the 

 British at New Orleans. 



THE "VAULTING POLE" COTTONWOOD 



