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tributed of any American tree. With us it is tough and 

 grows slowly, but in Florida it produces the beautifully 

 clear red cedar so familiar to us in the best "A. W. Fa- 

 ber" lead pencils. The tree is rarely found here over 

 thirty feet in height or more than one foot in diameter. 

 It grows everywhere on the hills of Essex county. There 

 is a small tree on Cabot street, and another in the yard 

 at the eastern side of the house of the late John P. 

 Andrews, on Essex street. Mr. J. J. H. Gregoiy 

 states in "Garden and Forest," that nine red cedars cut 

 in Danvers for posts, and measuring about three feet in 

 circumference at the base, were shown, by counting the 

 rings of annual growth, to average seventy-five years. 



The common juniper (Juniperous communis), grows 

 in great circular masses in the sterile soil of our hill- 

 sides and pastures. It is sometimes called savin, a 

 name also given to the red cedar, but which properly 

 belongs to the Juniperus sabina of Europe, only repre- 

 sented in this country by a prostrate variety, common 

 in northern New England and Canada, and sometimes 

 cultivated in gardens. Our juniper is more attractive 

 to the botanist than to the farmer, and makes a most ex- 

 cellent evergreen for Christmas decorations, as it holds 

 its rigidity and does not shed its leaves as the spruces 

 and hemlock do when dry — and, besides, the owners 

 are only too glad to have it taken away. The berries 

 of this plant, which require two years to ripen, furnish 

 the peculiar flavor to gin, a liquor more popular in 

 Europe than here. 



The only specimen of the true English yew (Taxus 

 baccata) of which I have any knowledge as growing in 

 Salem, is the tree just inside of the fence at the west- 

 erly corner of Hathorne and Broad streets. It was 



