THE ROMANCE OF OUR TREES 



the average being about 40 feet tall ; in girth they vary 

 from 2| feet to yf feet. In the parks of Minneapolis, 

 Minn., the Superintendent, Mr. Theodore Wirth, tells 

 me that the Ginkgo is hardy but that so far they have 

 not found a satisfactory place for it. As to its beha- 

 viour in Canada, Mr. W. T. Macoun, Dominion Hor- 

 ticulturist, obligingly informs me that he has "seen 

 very few specimens of this tree in Canada, but we have 

 been growing it here for twenty-five years and there 

 are a few specimens on the grounds of about that 

 age. They are from 25 to 30 feet high, and, although 

 rather slow in growth, may be considered, I think, 

 perfectly hardy although occasionally the tips kill 

 back. So far as I know they are not grown in any 

 colder part of Canada. The winter of 191 7-18 was 

 the most trying on both fruit trees and ornamental 

 trees that we have experienced in thirty years, but the 

 Ginkgo was not injured. During that winter it was 

 below zero on fifty-seven days, the lowest tempera- 

 ture being thirty-one below zero, Fahr. We have 

 tested the Ginkgo in our Prairie provinces but it has 

 not proved hardy there." On the Pacific seaboard I 

 do not remember any remarkable trees, and a friend 

 in Oregon to whom I wrote tells me that they do not 

 seem happy in the neighbourhood of Portland. 



The first tree to fruit in this country was probably 

 one in the grounds of the Kentucky Military Insti- 



64 



