30 
THE NATIVE TREES OE RHODE ISLAND. 
number of odd and striking shapes ; sometimes a nearly flat top, 
or umbrella-shaped ; again, arms straight out, like rapiers, as in 
onr illustration. In old age it seems to have kept company with 
the uncanny denizens of the swamps, and to have knotted itself 
into “snags.” If no underbrush interferes the tree limbs very 
low, and usually takes the “umbrella” shape. It then, while in 
leaf, wholly shuts out the sun. The leaves are in tuft-like groups, 
at the ends of the fine twigs, and glisten with nature’s varnish. 
They are the charm of the tree. In autumn they are the first to 
change color, and are then in a revelry of shades, from deep 
orange to the brightest scarlet. Its seeds are drupes of the size 
of a small pea, and are eaten and scattered by birds. The tree 
has recently been raised by forest-tree nursery-men, and it is found 
to be a valuable one for ornamental planting. Its varieties are 
known as “ pepperidge,” and “sour gum,” in States west and 
£outh, where it grows to a large size. 
Rhode Island has many of these trees, notably on Prudence and 
Conanicut islands, and on the shore-towns of the Bay. The tree 
here pictured stands in the swamp-land, within a few rods of the 
historic spot of King Philip’s fall and death. 
The Sassaeras. 
If there is any State outside of Rhode Island that can show so 
large a sassafras tree as is now standing upon the Larkin farm, in 
Cranston, we have yet to hear of it. The tree referred to meas- 
ured, several years ago, 14 feet 3 inches girth, near the ground, 
and 12 feet 2 inches two feet up. Its height was 51 feet. The 
tree stands in a large field which has been cultivated for more 
than a hundred years. It was probably saved on account of its 
size. The tree is slowly dying, limb by limb. Near it, by the 
pasture wall, are forty or more of its progeny, some good sized 
trees for the kind. This tree is an object-lesson in preserving fine 
trees. There are many sassafras trees in this State. 
