THE TREES AT MOUNT VERNON 



By CHARLES SPRAGUE SARGENT 



It appears desirable to place on record the size and condition of the 

 trees planted by Washington near his house at Mount Vernon and of 

 those now standing which have been planted or have sprung up naturally 

 in the neighborhood of the Mansion since Washington's death in 1799. 



The largest trees, which border the Bowling Green, were probably 

 planted from 1783 to 1785, for it was in these years following the end of 

 the Revolutionary War and preceding his election to the Presidency that 

 Washington was most actively engaged in the improvement of Mount 

 Vernon, and it was at this time that the Bowling Green and the adjoining 

 gardens were laid out. 



A few of the trees planted by Washington, in spite of the poor soil 

 at Mount Vernon, have grown to a large size. Among the Live Oaks and 

 Pecans planted in Louisiana after Washington's time there are larger 

 trees than any now at Mount Vernon, and some of the Elm-trees planted 

 in front of New England farmhouses after the middle of the eighteenth 

 century have thicker trunks and broader heads of foliage. Larger planted 

 trees exist in Europe, and in Japan many Gryptomeria- trees, some of them 

 planted six or seven centures ago, surpass in size and grandeur all other 

 planted trees; but no trees planted by man have the human interest of 

 the Mount Vernon trees. They belong to the nation and are one of its 

 precious possessions. No care should be spared to preserve them, and 

 as they pass away they should be replaced with trees of the same kinds, 

 that Mount Vernon may be kept for all time as near as possible in the 

 condition in which Washington left it. 



Judging by their size and position, there are now standing fifty-seven 

 trees which were probably planted by Washington or during his lifetime. 

 The position of other comparatively large trees are shown on the plan 

 which accompanies this report and on which the trees are numbered ; and 

 it is possible that some of these were growing during Washington's life, 

 especially the Oaks, but as Washington made no allusion in his Diary to 

 planting Oak-trees it is probable that as these are trees native to the 

 region they were self-sown. 



