ARBOR DA Y MANUAL. 



275 



Arranged for the "ARBOR DAY MA. 



FAMOUS AND CURIOUS TREES. 



The Cedars of Mount Lebanon are, perhaps, the most renowned and the best 

 known monuments in the world. Religion, poetry and history have all united 

 to make them famous. There are about four hundred of these trees, disposed 

 in nine groups, now growing on Mount Lebanon. They are of various sizes, 

 ranging up to over forty feet in girth. 



A few miles out of the city of Mexico stands a gnarled old Cypress, called the 

 tree of Triste Xochf. It was under this tree that Cortez sat and wept on that 

 memorable Triste Xoche when driven from the Mexican capital by the Indians. 



Another interesting tree to be seen in Mexico is found at Chapultepec, that 

 delightful summer resort of the Mexican rulers from the time of the Monte- 

 zumas. The tree in question stands a few feet from the entrance way, and is 

 draped with the lovely Spanish moss. It is also a Cypress of immense size, so 

 large is it that a party of thirteen could just reach around it. It is known as 

 the tree of Montezuma. and no doubt he often sat under its shade when rusti- 

 cating in this lovely spot. 



Sir Philip Sidney's Oak at Penshurst. which was planted at his birth; The 

 Abbot's Oak, and William the Conqueror's Oak at Windsor Park, are famous 

 trees in English history. 



But beside historical trees there are many others that a'ttract our attention 

 from their great size or curious properties. Among the former are the wonder- 

 ful trees of California, some of which are from three to five hundred feet in 

 height and twenty to twenty-five feet in diameter. A section of one of these 

 trees was at onetime exhibited in San Francisco, in which was a room carpeted, 

 and containing a piano and seats for forty people: a hundred and forty children 

 once filled the room without crowding. 



Among curious trees may be mentioned the Cow tree, or Palo de Vaca of the 

 Cordilleras, which grows at a height of three thousand feet above sea level. 

 It is a lofty tree with laurel-like leaves, and though receiving no moisture for 

 seven months of the year, when its trunk is lapped a bountiful stream of milk 

 bursts forth. It flows most freely at sunrise, when the natives may be seen 

 coming from all directions with pans and pails to catch the milk, which is said 

 to have a pleasant, sweet taste, but becomes thick and yellow in a short time 

 and soon turns into cheese. 



Then there is the Bread Fruit tree, one of the most curious as well as useful 

 trees of the Pacific Islands. The fruit, which is about the size of a Cocoanut, 

 should be gathered before it is ripe, and be baked like hoe-cake. When prop- 

 erly cooked it resembles and tastes like good wheat bread. 



Another very curious tree is the Candle-nut tree, of the South Sea Islands, 

 the fruit of which is heart-shaped and about the size of a walnut. From the 

 fruit is obtained an oil used both for food and light. The natives of the Society 

 Islands remove the shell and slightly bake the kernels, which they string on 

 rushes and keep to be used as torches. Five or six in a Screw Pine leaf are 

 said to give a brilliant light. 



