NOTES ON THE FOREST TREES OF ESSEX, CLINTON 

 AND FRANKLIN COUNTIES, NEW YORK. 1 



BY JOHN H. SKARS. 



THESE notes give the age, size find general locality not 

 only of the specimens that were collected but of some of 

 the largest trees that were found, many of which are rare 

 even in those forests, and which, except during the winter 

 months, cannot be cut and removed. It is much to be re- 

 gretted that these forest monarchs will soon be known 

 only in the traditions of the past. Essex Co., Mass., dur- 

 ing the earlier part of this century, probably possessed 

 similar forest trees, and we can by these 'notes form some 

 idea of what might then have been collected in this vicin- 

 ity. In making this collection for the museum, it was 

 desired that I should obtain as large a trunk specimen of 

 each species as could be found or was practicable to obtain. 

 The notes are arranged in the botanical order of the trees. 



TILIA AMERICANA (Bcisswood) . This is one of the 

 largest forest trees. The one that was cut was 80 feet 

 long : it stood in a grove of second growth maples that 

 were probably 50 or 60 feet high. 



This tree was so much taller that it was conspicuous, for 

 several miles ; it was 4 feet in diameter and was thirty feet 

 to the first limb. This tree and three others of nearly 

 the same size which we began to cut were partially de- 

 cayed. The largest sound tree that I could find was 2 

 feet 8 inches in diameter, and on the stump from which this 

 tree was cut 194 animal circles of growth were counted. 

 Allowing that the annual growth is about one-sixth of an 



1 Taken while collecting wood specimens for the Amei-ican Museum of Natural 

 History at Central Park, New York, during the months of September and October, 

 1881. 



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