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AMERICAN FORESTRY 



HALL OF FAME" FOR TREES 



475 



One of the most beautiful trees of America is a giant 

 oak standing in City Park of New Orleans. This great tree, 

 nominated by Miss Viola Overman, bears the name Mc- 

 Donough a name familiar to every citizen, and to every 

 child of Nczv Orleans, as ivell as Baltimore. 



In the long ago year of 1800, John McDonough went 

 from Baltimore to Nezv Orleans to live. He was young, 

 handsome, gay, generous, and was soon the most popular 

 man of the city. A love-affair. A disappointment. The 

 girl {whose parents had forbidden the marriage) entered 



{Courtesy Clarence F. Low) 



the Mcdonough oak 



a convent. The lover moved across the river and became a 

 recluse to society. He turned his attention wholly to busi- 

 ness. He was now known as McDonough the Miser. 



John McDonough died in 1850. Imagine the surprise of 

 the folk of New Orleans when it was learned that this 

 miserly, eccentric man had willed his vast estates jointly to 

 the cities of New Orleans and Baltimore, stipulating that 

 the funds were to be used for educational purposes and 

 asking "as a small favor that the little children shall some- 

 times come and plant a few flowers above my grave." 



Thirty public school buildings have been erected in New 



Orleans from the funds realised from the management of 

 this estate. In each building is a marble bust of John 

 McDonough. On a certain day each year appropriate exer- 

 cises are held as a memoriam to this beloved bene- 

 factor. 



The McDonough Oak is quite old but is still producing 

 acorns and new growth each year. Measurements made a 

 few years ago by Clarence F. Low, an authority on the 

 trees of New Orleans, are: Spread of branches, one hun- 

 dred and twenty- five feet; girth (.four feet from ground), 

 tzventy-six feet. 



