64 



feet from the ground. This tree is said to be very 

 old, and to have been brought from England, and 

 hence it is supposed by most persons to be the so 

 called English walnut. It is, therefore, an excellent il- 

 lustration of the re-importation of American trees to 

 America. The black walnut was one of the first 

 American trees to attract attention in, Europe. 



The fine black walnut, perhaps fifty or sixty feet 

 high, with a trunk three feet in diameter, cut down 

 on the Dr. Treadwell estate when Mr. Eaton built 

 his new house on North street, is represented by a 

 section of its trunk in the museum of the Peabodj' 

 Academy. As this tree was known to be seventy- 

 two years old when felled, and was about nine feet 

 in circumference at five feet from the ground, the rate 

 of growth was 1.50 inches each year. Assuming a 

 largely decreasing rate of growth after this age, a 

 tree thirteen feet in circumference ought to be at least 

 two hundred and sixteen years old, a fair estimate 

 for the age of the Saugus tree, although tradition makes 

 it older. It is, therefore, quite among the possibilities 

 that Cotton Mather could have stopped to rest beneath 

 the shade of the Cheever walnut on his way, on 

 horseback, from Boston, to witness the witchcraft 

 executions on Gallows Hill, in Salem, in 1692. 



Another large black walnut was cut down when Mr. 

 Richard Harrington built his house on Federal street. 

 There are several large black walnuts in the neighbor- 

 hood of Newburyport. The tree grows naturally 

 throughout the central United States. 



The English walnut (Juglans regia) is a native of 

 Persia, but it has been cultivated in England for over 

 three hundred years. It is not perfectly hardy here. 



