86 JAMESTOWN CONGRESS OF HORTICULTURE 



will recognize that the natives may fill a place both as regards cost 

 and immediate effect that nursery plants cannot fill 



Nurserymen should grow more well furnished large specimens of 

 shrubs and trees, more large and well trained vines, more formally 

 trained shrubs and trees for gardens and pots and they should recog- 

 nize that there is a growing demand for the healthy vigorous forms 

 that are easily propagated and can be sold at a low rate in large quan- 

 tities, and a declining demand for abnormal horticultural forms that 

 are expensive and difficult to propagate. 



In closing let me call attention to the statement of the morning's 

 session regarding the need of a greater unity of action of all the 

 various occupations represented by this Congress. 



Mr. Withers : Mr. Chairman, I should be glad to say a few words 

 in reference to Mr. Manning's able paper on Civic Improvements. 1 

 have been connected with civic improvement work in different parts 

 of this country for some years, and I heartily endorse all that Mr. 

 Manning has said. 



There is one subject that I am particularly interested in just now, 

 and that is the treatment and care of the trees in different towns and 

 cities of the United States. I am at this time engaged on the restora- 

 tion of one of the largest and most historical trees in the country, 

 which is called the "Liberty Tree of Maryland." It is a tulip tree 

 (Liriodendron tulipifera). It is 104 feet 3 inches high, 37 feet 3 inches 

 in circumference, at the base. It has a cavity which is open on one 

 side to a height of 20 feet, the opening will average 4 feet in width. 

 After cleaning out the decayed wood, it leaves the tree standing on a 

 shell the average thickness of which is about 15 inches. This great 

 cavity extends from the main trunk up into a huge branch the entire 

 length of which is fifty feet six inches from the ground level. After 

 cleaning it out and washing with a fungicide we filled this great 

 cavity with reinforced concrete, fifty-one tons of sand, stone, bricks, 

 cement and iron being used. The foundation of this concrete centre 

 extended 2J/ feet below the surface of the ground. The age of this 

 tree is estimated at over six hundred years. It was under this tree 

 that the treaty between the Colonists and the Susquehannock Indians 

 was signed in 1654. The Liberty speech was made here about 177G, 

 General Washington being present at the time. A reception was given 

 to General Lafayette in its shade in 1825. In 1820 a native of Annap- 

 olis, a Mr. Claude, wrote an ode dedicated to this old tree bidding it 

 good-bye because he thought it could not live much longer. He spoke 

 of its crumbling away, which proves that a great cavity must have 

 existed at that time in its base. 



During the Civil W T ar the soldiers were encamped around the tree, 

 the college building being used for hospitals, and while the soldiers 

 were encamped there a large branch fell, tearing away a great piece 

 out of its side, causing the cavity to extend upward. Our filling is 

 now in place, and there are no dead limbs, or decayed spots, that have 

 not been removed or treated. With a slight feeding, I think, the tree 

 is good for another five or six hundred years. I mention my work in 



