59 



down the branches in the autumn and covering them 

 with earth. One of the oddest things and in the oddest 

 place, is a seedling fig, self-sown, of course, which has 

 taken care of itself through at least one winter in one 

 of the pits covered by an iron grating at a cellar win- 

 dow of the Shepard block, on the corner of North and 

 Essex streets. This plant well deserves to be cared 

 for as a reward for its persistent attempts to live. 



The button wood (Platauus occidentalis) is a tree 

 which never appears to be in a state ot good health 

 here. The disease which weakens it is a fungus or 

 mildew. It attacks the leaves when they first appear, 

 and as it causes them to wither and fall the tree is 

 obliged to produce a new crop of leaves later in the 

 season. The buttonwoods on the Andrews estate, on 

 Essex street, are ten feet in circumference, and one 

 just below the car shops on Bridge street is of about the 

 same size. Two trees before the Chas. Davis house on 

 Cabot street, Beverly , just beyond the Gloucester branch 

 railroad crossing, although not so large as those named, 

 have usually made a better appearance than the Salem 

 trees. There is, however, a fine buttonwood on Herbert 

 street, near Derby, which stands before the "Briggs 

 house" and is a picturesque and fitting companion to 

 the old gambrel roofed edifice. 



The home of the buttonwood is in the river bottoms 

 of the Ohio and westward, but most of the older 

 trees have disappeared from that region. It is hu- 

 miliating to think that these fine trees are being cut 

 down, almost exclusively, to furnish boxes for tobacco 

 packing. 



The buttonwood is the most massively eflfective 

 tree in the eastern United States, when seen in its 



