xX. I. THER AMERICAN ELM. 291 
house belonging to that family, and which was known to be 
one hundred and eighty-one years old in 1837, then measured 
twenty-six feet five inches at the ground, or as near to it as the 
roots would allow us to measure, and sixteen feet eight inches 
at five feet. The branches extended one hundred and four feet 
from southeast to northwest, and ninety-five from northeast to 
south west. 
The great elm on Boston Common was measured by Prof. 
Gray and myself, in June of 1844. At the ground, it measures 
twenty-three feet six inches ; at three feet, seventeen feet eleven 
inches, and at five feet, sixteen feet and one inch. The largest 
branch, towards the southeast, stretches fifty-one feet. 
The classical elm, opposite the gate of the Botanic Garden, 
Cambridge, measured fourteen feet nine inches at four feet, in 
1838. 
In Hingham, on the road leading to Cohasset, just below the 
turn from the Old Colony House, stands an elm which 1s said to 
have been transplanted in 1729. It may have been one hundred 
and twenty or one hundred and twenty-five years old, on the 
25th of July, in 1839, when I measured it, in company with that 
excellent botanist, Wilham Oakes, Esq., of Ipswich. It was 
thirteen feet in circumference, at four and a half feet from the 
sround. At from ten to fifteen feet, eight large branches are 
thrown out, which sweep upwards in a broad curve, making a 
noble round head sixty or seventy feet high. The immense 
roots, which, beginning at three or four feet above the surface, 
stand out like abutments, in all directions, chiefly west and 
east, give an idea of permanency and vast strength. The 
extreme spread of the limbs is forty-five feet from the trunk, 
making the breadth of the head more than ninety feet. In the 
angle of one of the branches, when we measured it, was grow- 
ing a currant-bush with ripe fruit. Speaking of this tree, J. 
S. Lewis, Esq., to whom I am indebted for valuable informa- 
tion concerning the trees of Hingham, says,—‘‘ At ten feet, it 
is fifteen feet nine inches in circumference. It has a hemi- 
spherical top, of ninety feet diameter at the base, ascending and 
terminating with singular uniformity, presenting to the eye a 
rare combination of beauty and grandeur. At this measure- 
