48 



Another tree, the cypress of Somma in Lombardy, is 

 proved by records, it is said, to have been known in the 

 time of Julius Caesar, 42 B. C. 



The greatest number of rings yet actually counted in 

 any tree is 2100 in the case of a California " Big-tree" 

 or redwood (Sequoia gigantea), and this record of the 

 tree's own existence reduces materially the estimates of 

 the age formerly attributed to these monsters of the for- 

 est. That any of our oaks are a thousand years old, as 

 is often supposed, seems impossible. It is doubtful if 

 any tree in Essex County standing to-day exceeds three 

 hundred years in age, and it is quite possible that a less 

 number would cover the years of the oldest. 



The American Elm (Ulmus americana), also known 

 as the white elm, may undoubtedly be placed as the most 

 venerated and most popular tree for planting in Now 

 England. It is the most graceful, most varied, and up- 

 on the whole the most satisfactory tree we have. Mr. 

 Dame, in the volume entitled "Typical Elms" (to be 

 seen at the Public Library) , gives pictures of two Essex 

 County American elms. The first is the famous Hub- 

 bard elm on the farm of Mr. Nathan Foster at North 

 Andover, near Boxford, which is the largest and finest 

 tree in this neighborhood. Its trunk measures twenty 

 feet and ten inches in circumference at five feet from the 

 ground, and is, so tradition says, over 250 years old. 

 It is, therefore, if this tradition can be relied upon, the 

 oldest elm as well as the largest in Essex County. The 

 Hale elm, in Boxford, a tree well known to be 145 years 

 old, is thirteen feet and one half in circumference. The 

 old William Jaques elm on Parker street, Newbury, is 

 also figured in " Typical Elms." It is seventeen feet 

 and three inches in circumference and is thought to be 



