57 



shows how little dependence can be placed upon the 

 size of trees in attempting to determine their age. 

 The dimensions of the trunk of a tree can only be 

 used to make a comparative estimate of the age of 

 trees of the same species, and even then it is of very 

 uncertain value. Much more dependence must be 

 placed upon the general appearance of the tree than 

 is ordinarily supposed. 



The box tree is a native of the Levant, and its 

 very dense wood is of great value for the purposes of 

 the engraver, no substitute as yet having been found 

 for it. In its native habitat it sometimes grows to a 

 height of twenty-five feet with a trunk six or eight 

 inches in diameter. 



The osage orange (Madura aurantiaca), a native of 

 the southwestern United States, is occasionally used 

 here as a hedge plant. On the Page estate in Danvers 

 trees originally planted for a hedge have been allowed 

 to develop, and have borne fruit which is quite large 

 and which externally resembles an orange. 



The nettle-tree, sometimes called hackberry (Celtis 

 occidentalis) , a tree which some one has described as 

 "a small elm bearing wild cherries," grows in the 

 Salem great pastures. There are two or three trees 

 west of the mill pond, on the line of the new Madison 

 Avenue. There are also small trees of this species 

 on the sand dunes at the northei'n end of Plum Island, 

 others on the road from Ipswich to the beach, and 

 larger ones near the Towne estate in East Boxford. 



The white mulberry (Morus alba), originally intro- 

 duced from China, is found on Lafayette street, where 

 there are two trees at the corner of Ward street,* 



*One tree, since cut down, showed fifty-one animal rings of 

 growth. It is said that these trees were planted by a Capt, 

 Poole, about 1843. 



