49 



178 years old. This elm is the same size as the Endi- 

 cott elm, in Peabody, which was destroyed by a gale or 

 lightning some years ago, and which was the most grace- 

 ful elm in this region. There are large elms at the 

 Woodbury farm in North Beverly, in Reading, in New- 

 buryport, the Andovers, in Ipswich ; and almost every 

 town in the State has its noted elms. Those of the 

 Connecticut river valley, however, are undoubtedly the 

 finest and largest, taken as a whole. The oldest elms in 

 Salem are probably the " Great Tree," or " Big Tree," 

 in the centre of Boston street, imd the tree by the house 

 No. 23 Summer street. This last named tree is the 

 finer of the two, and has, thanks to the care of the city's 

 shade tree committee, been placed in condition, it is 

 hoped, to last and be admired for many years to come. 

 In regard to the former, Mr. C. F. W. Archer has 

 called my attention to the fact that the records state 

 that a great tree stood in the plain at the time the 

 boundaries were made when the stone bearing the date 

 1707 was placed in Boston street. It would ordinarily 

 appear that the tree was hardly large enough to warrant 

 the supposition that it is one hundred and eighty years 

 old, but it is growing in very poor soil, and has, perhaps, 

 never had an epoch of rapid growth usual in elms ; and 

 it may, therefore, be as old as the record would indi- 

 cate. It seems hardly possible that the tree originally 

 on the spot should have died and another have been 

 planted to replace it, for in that case, in all probability, 

 some tradition would have descended of the fact. 

 However this. may be, it is an interesting subject for our 

 local historians and one which I hope may receive their 

 attention. 



The tree generally admitted to be the most beautiful 



