117 



REPORT OF COMMITTEE ON ORNAMENTAL 

 TREES. 



To the Trustees of the Essex Agricultural Society, 



Gentlemen : — Your committee were duly notified by 

 the secretary of two entries "for the best lot of ornamental 

 trees" — one by Albert Emerson, Haverhill, sugar maples 

 on westerly side of Hilldale avenue ; and the" other by 

 Benjamin P. Ware, Marblehead, a varied collection of 

 trees situated on his farm. 



They would report that they have awarded the prize of 

 $10 to Benjamin P. Ware of Marblehead ; and would add 

 words of praise of Mr. Emerson's trees, there being no 

 second prize. 



A visit was made to Mr. Emerson's on August 11th, 

 where we saw a thrifty lot of sugar maples of quite uni- 

 form size, growing in a clay soil and under generally fa- 

 vorable circumstances. The committee were well pleased 

 with the appearance of the trees, and also that their owner 

 had showed a public spirit in setting them where they 

 were doing a double duty by increasing the attractiveness 

 and beauty of the adjacent lands, and also offering grateful 

 shade to those passing on the highway during the heat of 

 summer. 



Mr. Emerson's appreciation of trees was shown also in 

 the belt of natural forest growth — chiefly oaks — which he 

 had preserved as a division between two fields, and as a 

 sheltered passage for his cows from their pasture to the 

 spring, which was at the farther end of the belt where it 

 widened into a grove. This belt was fenced in, and was 

 so located that the cattle passed within easy sight of the 

 house on their way to the water. These trees were an- 

 other picturesque feature, lending shelter to the animals, 

 and preserving a growth of woods around the spring, 



