July 22, 1S96.] 



Garden and Forest. 



293 



same root, meaning "immature," "unripe," "green." 

 From askut, the stem of askuiu, "it is immature," "it is 

 green," with the formative suffix asq, we have askulasq as 

 the name for a cucurbit that might be eaten while in a green 

 or unripe state. 



" Whereas the Pompion is never eaten till it be ripe, 

 these [squashes] are never eaten after they are ripe " (Bev- 

 erly's Hist, of Virginia). 



Tacamahac (i) (Populus balsamifera). — A West Indian 

 (Aruban ?) name for a balsamic resin derived from Ela- 

 phrium tomentosum, transferred to a resin produced by the 

 Balsam Poplar, and then to the tree itself. (2) (Larix 

 Americana). As in the preceding case, a transfer to the 

 tree of the name given to a balsamic turpentine yielded by 

 it, and used medicinally for the same purposes as the 

 tacamahac of commerce, the properties of which are 

 analogous to those of the turpentines. 

 New York. W. K. Gerard. 



The Oaks at Paxtang. 



BETWEEN South Mt. and the Endless Mountains 

 lies the most considerable body of valuable land the 

 English are possessed of . . . This valley is every- 

 where enriched with limestone. The Endless Mountains 

 come next in order, ridges with even tops and nearly of a 

 height, and to look into the lower lands is but, as it were, 

 into an ocean of woods, swelled and depressed here and 

 there by little inequalities, not to be distinguished one part 

 from another any more than the waves of the ocean." 

 — Analysis of a Map of the Middle British Colonies in 

 America, by Lewis Evans, Philadelphia, 1755. 



A remnant of the once immense Appalachian forest sur- 

 vives in the venerable Oaks at Paxtang, Pennsylvania, 

 that curiously enough owe their preservation to the very 

 men who made the first clearing in the "ocean of woods " 

 covering that part of the Great Vale which extended from 

 the Schuylkill to the Susquehanna, and known as the 

 Lebanon Valley. The land where they settled, at the 

 western end of the Lebanon Valley, a few miles south of 

 the Endless Mountains, and not far from the Susquehanna, 

 formed part of the disputed territory bought from the 

 Shawanese in 1696, but was not finally ceded to the English 

 until 1736. Years before this last treaty was signed John 

 Harris had established his trading-post on the river, and 

 of several settlements made by Scotch-Irish Presbyterians, 

 one of the earliest was the then frontier settlement of Pax- 

 tang, in a minor depression or "inequality " of the valley. 



By 1732 there had been such an increase in numbers at 

 Paxtang, and Derry, ten miles eastward, that the congrega- 

 tions united in calling the Rev. John Bertram as joint 

 pastor, and for a time each congregation worshiped in 

 its own log meeting-house. The one at Derry satisfied its 

 people for generations, but the primitive structure at Pax- 

 tang was replaced under the energetic ministry of the cele- 

 brated Parson Elder by the existing stone church, whose 

 corner-stone was laid in 1740. Lineal descendants of the 

 founder and builders compose most of its present congre- 

 gation. 



The land originally granted to the church consisted of 

 one hundred acres, at half-pence sterling rent. This acre- 

 age was afterward reduced to twenty, and at present the 

 church holding does not exceed eight acres in extent. It 

 lies near the crest of the northern slope of the valley, and 

 except for the portions occupied by the parsonage and 

 grounds, the myrtle-covered graveyard, and the church, 

 with its surrounding open space, is entirely in woodland. 

 The woods are of mixed species and not at all noteworthy, 

 except for the Oaks, which literally overshadow the other 

 trees to such an extent that they form no part of the im- 

 pression. There are six White Oaks, with trunks ranging 

 from more than three to nearly five feet in diameter. The 

 largest one, the subject of the photograph reproduced on 



page 295 



of this issue, measures four feet eight inches, 



and stands not far from the front entrance to the building. 



Two others are near the lower margin of the woods, and 

 another, near the graveyard, screens the silent past from 

 the too close approach of the busy present, which with 

 house-lots and avenues touches the very border of the 

 church enclosure. 



From the margin of the woods there is a beautiful out- 

 look into the valley over the surrounding country, and 

 across the river to the broken spurs of the South Mountains, 

 known as the York Hills. While the valley itself has de- 

 veloped into a succession of suburban villages, country 

 seats and model farms, the Oaks, and the church they 

 surround, have changed little since colonial days. The 

 church is built of limestone, which does not ring much 

 harder than the mortar cementing its blocks, and though 

 the interior has been remodeled in accordance with 

 modern ideas, the exterior was fortunately left intact, 

 and preserves the uncompromising severity of its origi- 

 nal lines. John Bartram, in his journeys through the 

 Great Vale, often passed close to the Oaks, but it is 

 doubtful if he ever lingered at Paxtang, as he had no love 

 for the Scotch-Irish, and the only feeling he held in com- 

 mon with that fighting race was the wish " to bang the 

 Indians stoutly." 



In 1763 the Oaks looked out over a turbulent scene, as 

 the Paxtang Rangers, disregarding the protests of their 

 venerable Parson Elder rode off to Conestoga to deal pun- 

 ishment to the Indians who they thought had been treated 

 too leniently by the authorities. The leader of this expe- 

 dition was the same Capt. Smith who, twelve years later, 

 and within ten days after the news was received of the 

 battle of Lexington, had ready armed and equipped for 

 service the company that was the second to reach Boston 

 from south of the Hudson. This same company formed 

 part of Arnold's expedition to Canada, and some of the 

 members never returned from the assault on Quebec. 



Generation after generation has passed out from under 

 the shadow of the Oaks into the world, and the recent 

 Scotch-Irish Congress, held in Harrisburg, has drawn 

 attention to the veneration with which this church is re- 

 garded, a feeling intensified by the unchanged state of its 

 immediate surroundings, and especially by the presence 

 of its noble Oaks. 



Harrisburg, Penn. Jl- L- UOCR. 



Foreign Correspondence. 

 London Letter. 



A Farm School. — The present Duke of Bedford takes a 

 keen interest in the agriculture and market-gardening of 

 this country. Several years ago he established in Woburn, 

 Bedfordshire, an experimental fruit-farm for the purpose 

 of demonstrating new methods of culture and bringing into 

 notice good varieties of all kinds of hardy fruits suitable 

 for cultivation by farmers and others. He has lately added 

 to this generous gift by placing at the disposal of the 

 County Council a farm of 275 acres close to the Woburn 

 fruit-farm, and has erected lecture-rooms, dormitories and 

 other accommodation for the education of boys in 

 science and practice of farming. Every branch of farm 

 and garden practice is taught by precept as well as by 

 practice. The boys are granted free scholarships by the 

 County Council; in other words, they arc to he taught and 

 housed free of charge for a period of two years. The}- are 

 selected from the sons of agricultural laborers and small 

 farmers. This school-farm, which is modeled on the lines 

 of similar institutions on the Continent, is said to he the first 

 of the kind ever established in this country. 



Seedling Oranges. — An interesting report by Mr. II. J, 

 Webber, to the United States Department of Agriculture, 

 dealing with the reproduction of varieties of Orange and 

 other members of the Citrus family in Florida, is reprinted 

 in The Gardeners' Chronicle. It is noteworthy on account 

 of its setting forth that the varieties of Citrus are reproduced 

 true from seed, in opposition to thegeneral belief that good 

 commercial varieties of Orange, Lemon, Lime, Shaddock, 



