34 



Garden and Forest. 



[January i6, iS 



Correspondence. 



Rare Trees of Rhode Island. 

 To the Editor of Garden and Forest : 



Sir.^There are very few acres of undisturbed forest land in 

 Rhode Island. Most of the land now devoted to wood-grow- 

 ing has been subjected to one, two, or more choppings, either 

 by culling the best trees or by clean cutting. Yet, while this 

 general deforestation has been going on, many single trees 

 and groups have been spared, some of which have attained a 

 large growth and a fine development of shape. Such trees are 

 now not only objects of beauty in themselves, but add greatly 

 to the pleasing scenic effects of the grounds where they grow. 

 The location of the state with reference to ocean currents, and 

 its greatly varied surface and soil, afford favorable conditions 

 for a larger number of tree species than are usually found in 

 such a small territory. Certain localities show a mingling of 

 two quite distinct floras, and this is seen in the tree growth as 

 well as in smaller plant life. Among trees, I will refer to a 

 few species which, although rare and local in the state, flour- 

 ish well when found. 



The Swamp Spanish Oak or Pin Oak {Quercus palustris) is 

 found along streams and in low grounds in the southern part 

 of the state. I have been unable to find any record of the 

 natural growth of this Oak anywhere else so far east. Of the 

 eleven or twelve species of Oak indigenous to this state, this is 

 the most free and graceful ni its habit of growth, and one of 

 the most ornamental in its general appearance. In open 

 ground it has .a symmetrical, rounded head, without the stiff- 

 ness of most of the Oaks. Its limbs, slender for an Oak, 

 divide into spray-like branchlets, bearing deep-cut, wide- 

 spreading, shining leaves, giving the tree a cheerful aspect. 

 Overhanging a stream or pool, it assumes a somewhat one- 

 sided, drooping habit, the branches often touching the water. 

 This tree is found, here and there, on the borders of the Great 

 Kingstown Swamp and on the margins of the Pawcatuck River. 



Another species decidedly local in the state is the Post 

 Oak or Box White Oak {Quercus obtusiloba). The only speci- 

 mens of this Oak, so far reported in this state, are growing 

 near the shore of the most northern arm of Wickford Harbor, 

 North Kingstown. There are trees there of this kind, in the 

 edge of a wood-lot, which are fifty or sixty feet high ; but in 

 the open ground they form low, wide-spreading heads, the 

 limbs bending downwards, with the lower ones actually resting 

 upon the ground. The obtuse-lobed, glossy leaves, overlap- 

 ping each other from branch to branch, form a living thatch of 

 notable beauty. 



The Tulip-tree (^Liriod-endron tulipifera), although only 

 local in the state, is found in groups in several of the towns 

 in the central and south-western parts. It grows to fine pro- 

 portions, and is occasionally planted as an ornamental tree. 



The Black Walnut (yjuglans 7iigra) has been reported as 

 indigenous to the state, but this is doubtful. But trees of this 

 species have grown to stately proportions around some of the 

 old homesteads, and young trees are now in thrifty condition 

 where they may have been self-planted. 



The Persimmon {Diospyros Virginiana) has been growing 

 in a locality where it is highly improbable that any white man 

 planted it. It may have been introduced by the Indians and 

 have become naturalized. A Persimmon, which was stand- 

 ing some years since, measured three feet eleven inches girth 

 at base, and three feet at seven feet up, and tapered gradually 

 to a height of more than forty feet. This tree is now dead. 



I will close by reference to some noteworthy Sassafras 

 trees. A tree of this species of remarkable size stands upon 

 the Spring Brook Farm, in Cranston, two or three miles 

 from Providence. It is in a field of several acres, which has 

 been cultivated for more than a century. It was probably 

 saved on account of its size and beauty. A careful measure- 

 ment, six years ago, gave the following results : Girth, near 

 the ground, fourteen feet three inches ; two feet up, eleven 

 feet ten and one-half inches, with little diminution in its size 

 to the limbs, eleven feet up. The height, computed by ratio 

 from its shadow, was forty-nine and one-half feet. The tree 

 has lost some limbs and shows other signs of great age; but 

 its massive trunk, with its deeply furrowed bark, is still un- 

 broken. It is a grand old sentinel, that has put forth its jaunty 

 blossoms at more than a huntlred seed times, and dropped its 

 beautiful leaves at more than a hundred harvests, in the 

 ground over which it has watched. 



A group — or, rather, an irregular row — of trees of this kind, 

 numbering over sixty, stands by the side of a stone wall near by, 

 probably the progeny of the patriarch tree in the field. The 

 estimated average diameter of three trees, two feet from the 



ground, is eight inches, and their height thirty feet. There is 

 another notable group of these trees upon the peninsula 

 known as Bullock's Point, a few miles below Providence, on 

 Narragansett Bay. They grow among Cedars and Pitch Pines, 

 but, from their spread and height, are evidently older than 

 these. These trees number a dozen or more, and several of 

 them are eight to ten feet in girth three feet from the ground 

 and forty to fifty feet high. 



The Sassafras tree is quite plentifully distributed throughout 

 the state and many fine specimens may be seen by stone 

 walls and in out-of-the-way places. L. W. Russell. 



Providence, R. I. 



[Mr. Russell's communication is of special interest, as 

 it records, for the first time, the presence in Rhode Island 

 of the Post Oak {Quercus obtusiloba), the Pin Oak {Quercus 

 palustris) and the Tulip tree. The Post Oak had not 

 been detected before in New England, except on the 

 Islands of Martha's Vineyard and Naushon, in Massa- 

 chusetts; and the Pin Oak was not known east of the 

 valley of the Connecticut River, although a common tree 

 along the Sound-coast in eastern Connecticut, and occur- 

 ring sparingly near Amherst, Massachusetts. The 

 Tulip tree has not been reported before east of western 

 New England. The Persimmon has been supposed gener- 

 ally to have been introduced into Rhode Island in recent 

 years, but, as it is found growing spontaneously in Con- 

 necticut, near the Sound, it is, perhaps, not improbable 

 that it extends also into that state. — Ed.] 



The American Mistletoe. 



To the Editor of Garden and Forest : 



Sir. — Referring to what is said of the Mistle'toe in your arti- 

 cle entitled "Christmas Green," in the issue of Garden and 

 Forest for December 19th, permit me to say that this plant is 

 found only in a few scattered localities in southern New Jersey, 

 though within the memory of some persons it was occasion- 

 ally found on the yellow-drift formation in the north-eastern 

 part of the state. It is not now abundant in any true sense of 

 the word in any part of southern New Jersey, with the possi- 

 ble exception of the region which may be called the head 

 waters of the Great Egg-Harbor River, where within a radius 

 of say ten or twelve miles I have counted over forty trees, 

 large and small, with from one to twenty-five bunches of 

 Mistletoe upon each of them. There is not enough of it, even 

 here, to permit of its being gathered, except to supply herba- 

 riums with specimens from New Jersey. The localities are 

 usually too far separated, and too much concealed in the 

 swamps, to tempt even the cupidity of those who make the 

 gathering of Christmas greens a business ; and where it is 

 known to exist it is usually too highly prized as a curiosity by 

 people in the locaHty to permit of its being wantonly destroyed. 



It is not likely that its extermination will be caused by its 

 reputed medicinal vii'tues, but it is to be feared that if the Black 

 Gum should become marketable, the Mistletoe would 

 quickly disappear from this part of New Jersey ; for in this 

 region it grows only upon one kind of tree, the Black or Sour 

 Gum {Nyssa sylvaticd). C. F. Parker, however, found it grow- 

 ing at Jackson, Camden County, New Jersey, on the Red 

 Maple, which fact establishes the possibility of its being found 

 on other deciduous-leaved trees. But though I have care- 

 fully searched Apple trees and Swamp or Red Maples for 

 it, I have never found it on them in this locality; and I do not 

 think there is any record of its being detected upon any of the 

 dozen or more varieties of Oaks found on the yellow drift in 

 New Jersey. 



Mays Landing, N. J. John E. Peters. 



Shortia galacifolia. 



To the Editor of Garden and Forest : 



Sir. — In your interesting sketch of Shortia, published De- 

 cember 19th, you say that Mr. Hyams discovered, "with the 

 aid of a correspondent, what a treasure he had." 



As this whole discovery was under my eyes, I would like to 

 say that to Mr. Joseph W. Congdon, then of Providence, now 

 of Mariposa, California, the credit of the identification belongs. 

 He came to my room and told me what he had found in 

 Hyams' package, and had sent to Dr. Gray. An answer came 

 from the latter, " If you think you have Shortia, send it on," 

 or words to that effect. It was sent. Then came from Dr. Gray 

 the characteristic postal, "It is so. Now let me sing my nunc 

 dimittis I" I think this is worth preserving. 



Providence, Rhode Island. ^. W. Bailey. 



