28 
THE NATIVE TREES OE RHODE ISLAND. 
few native specimens have been found in Scituate, and a stately 
one is now standing* near Simmonsville. 
Nursery-men grow this tree for sale, and persons desiring a fine 
ornamental tree, always clean and attractive, would do well to con- 
sider its merits. The lumber from this tree is the “ white-wood” 
of our commercial yards. It is mostly obtained in the region 
drained by the Ohio and its branches. It is one of the noblest 
timber trees of the American forests. The trunks are massive, 
often six feet in diameter, straight, and without a knot. The 
reaches of this timber are fast disappearing. Their renewal is a 
matter of centuries, if it ever occurs. The tree seeds sparingly, 
and starts only under good conditions. 
The illustrative photo., which is here reproduced, was taken 
from a tree on Broad street, Providence. 
The Buttonwood. 
Rhode Island ought not yet to give up the good old button- 
wood as a homestead tree. It shows signs of recovery from some 
not-well-understood disease, which, some years back, has killed 
many of the trees, and made all of this kind look sick. They 
have been gaining, however, for some years. We should hope for 
full recovery. The buttonwood has strong characteristics; and 
we like such whether in a tree or a man. When fully grown the 
tree is huge in girth, height, and spread. The bark is peculiar, in- 
deed, strikingly so — -like a leopard’s back, spotted. The branches 
strike out with a defiant air, stiff to the ends. The leaves are 
large, strong-veined, and of pattern-like make. It carries its 
“ button-balls” of seeds through the winter, and they dance on 
the skeleton branches, amid snow and ice, like dead things come 
to life. The old tree decays at the base, hollows-out, and makes 
a play-house for the children, which they will never forget. A few 
of these old trees are yet left, and considerable numbers of young 
ones are found around muddy pools, by brook-sides, and various 
neglected spots. Let them stay. 
