SOME REMARKABLE TREES.

Globe, Volume IX, Issue 1282, 29 April 1878, Page 3

SOME REMARKABLE TREES.

A cypress in Oaxaco, Mexico, which fortythree years ago measured I*2o feet in height, 111 feet 10 inches in circumference, and which sheltered Hernan Cortez and his followers under its wide-spreading boughs about the year 1520, is supposed to be now 5000 years old. A type of antiquity in the vegetable kingdom is that of a lig tree in Ceylon planted, according to documentary and traditional evidence” 258 8.C., making it 2103 years The oldest oak in England is in Herefordshire, situated in Hatfield Park. It is over a thousand years old. Beneath its branches Princess Elizabeth, while a prisoner at Hatfield, during her daily rambles in the park often sat in meditation and solitude, and here she was sitting when the tidings reached her of Queen Mary's death and her own elevation to the throne. Another old oak is the “ Parliament Oak,” from the tradition of Edward I. holding a Pari ament under its branches, on one of the estates of the Duke of Portland. It is considered to be 1300 years old. The tallest oak in England was the property of the same nobleman, and was called the “Lukes VS alkingstick. It was higher than Westminster Abbey. The largest oak is known as “ Calthorp Oak,” at Worksop, and is so called from its shade covering part of the counties of York, Nottingham, and Derby. In London the now almost lifeless trunk of a venerable sycamore tree is fostered with great care, marking the spot by the old Thames wall where was once the margin of the river, and where Oliver Goldsmith Dr. Johnson, and their companions sat for hours in the summer season.

At Fortworth, in Gloucestershire, is a large chestnut tree. Its circumference, five feet from the gro and, is over fifty feet. As it was mentioned as a boundary mark of the manor in the reign of Stephen, was famous in King John’s time for its magnitude, and was in existence in the time of Egbert, it may be even older than 1000 years. The plane trees of Greece are of immense magnitude. One of the species is on the European side of the Bosphorus, and is conjectured by M. de Candolle to be more than 2900 years old. When measured in 1831, it was found to be 140 feet in circumference ot the base and 100 feet high. Its branches are said to be more like a forest than like a single tree. Its sides are cavernous, and shelter the herdsmen, who make fires in these hollows. There are wonderful trees in California, some of which run up from 300 to 400 feet. The stump of one tree measured on its surface a surface of GOO square feet. One called the “Fallen Monarch,” which has for years lain prostrate, is nineteen feet in diameter at the base, and six feet at a distance of 200 feet from the butt ; but the greatest wonder is the “Grizzly Giant,” which, ninety feet from the ground, has a limb six feet and six inches in diameter. The trunk is twenty feet diameter eleven feet above the ground. There are giant trees in Western Aus tralia. One near Warren river recently discovered was found to be 200 feet high, and large enough to permit three riders and an additional pack-horse to enter its hollow trunk and turn in it without dismounting. There is a willow in Pemiscot County, Mo., that measures twenty-four feet in circumference at the base, and is 100 feet in height. There is a willow in Trenton, N.J., whose history is remarkable. It was formed by the importation of a branch from the original willow that shaded the tomb of Napoleon Bonaparte at St. Helena, A similar tree, produced by a cutting from the willow over Napoleon’s tomb, is now growing at Port Arthur, in the colony of Tasmania. There are many noted and noble elm trees in the United States. _ The historic elm on Boston Common, which was blown down during a gale of wind, February loth, IS7G, was known as the “Big Tree”and “Liberty Tree.” In 1835 the tree was accurately measured by the City Engineer, who recorded the following dimensions Height, 74ft Gin ; average diameter of greatest extent of branches, 101 feet. It was handsome in form, large in size, and venerable in age. The tree was known as the “ Liberty tree” in 1785. Albany recently had a famous elm at the corner of State and North Pearl streets. Under its branches, it is said, many Indian and Dutch councils in early days were held. The elms of New Haven, Conn., are world-wide in reputation. An elm at Granby, Mass., is 105 years old. Upon the side of this tree, twelve feet from the ground, is a currant bush rooted in the bark, which has thrived and produced its annual crop of fruit for many years.