THE HISTORIC TREES OF MASSACHUSETTS 



manency and vast strength. The extreme 

 spread of the limbs is 45 feet from the trunk, 

 making the breadth of the head more than 

 90 feet. In the angle of one of the branches 

 when I measured it, was growing a current 

 bush, bearing ripe fruit." 



So it stands to-day, in full vigor, and with 

 considerably increased dimensions. Only one 

 of the eight huge limbs has died out; the 

 spread of the branches is over 100 feet, and 

 the circumference of the trunk, when the 

 author measured it in the summer of 1916, 

 was 16^ feet, 4I feet from the ground. 



There are many other beautiful trees in 

 Hingham, some of which might be called 

 historic, though very little has been re- 

 corded concerning them. The elm in front 

 of the town offices is 16 feet 2 inches in cir- 

 cumference at breast height, and has a 

 height of 60 feet and a spread of 100 feet. 

 The old buttonwood on Leavitt street is 14^ 

 feet at 2^ feet from the ground, at which 

 point the first limb is thrown out in an 

 easterly direction; the height is ^^ feet, 

 and the spread of branches 80 feet. On 



