Morning journal and courier., 1883-09-26
NEW RAVENS ELMS AND GREEN. Descriptions, Historical Items aad An ecdOtes of Persons and Things Con-
 Beeted Therewith.
BY HENRY HOWE. Copyrighted 1888 by Henry Howe.l


 and Green. Let them live away from them for thirty years, as has the writer, and away from the invigoreting breezes that come here from the salt waters and their indifference may vanish. How 1t sometimes appears to strangers seeing it for the first time we illus trate by an incident within our knowledge.
 In western city our next door neighbors were an ancient godly couple, who on a time some thirty years since came East, and ar irving in our city after nightfall, were taken to the New Haven House. It was their first visit here, Rising early next morning, the old gentleman went to the window and draw ing aside the curtain, got his first view, a June morning breaking in beauty upon our Green. This was before that forest of va- ried trees had grown upon our upper Green to ruin the breadth and grandeur of view then had from that point. For minute he stood as if entranced. Pious old man as he was, he thought of the New Jerusalem; then calling his wife, said: sMaryr do come and look! Did you ever see anything so beauti- full? They call this place New Haven, but l call it New Heaven"
 
 things of our heritage
 New Haven is vast cathedral with aisles for streets. ."-N. P. Willis.
 Without it's elms New Haven would be like a lion shorn of its mane. HI. w. Beeoher.
 ''This is place where town and country have met and shaken hands "-Charles Dick ems.
 sI call it New Heaven."-Rev Dr. Sworm- stedt, Cincinnati, O.
 Encomiums like the above upon our city can be quoted to any desirable extent. Ly- man Beecher once said: "There is no city more beautiful than New Haven and there never will be' Very pleasing that. but he was ''town born" and ever hubbling with en- thusiasm. Besides it would be a mean bird that piped i'll of it's own nest. A lady, also "town born, " but absent for nearly half her life from the grateful scent of the sea air, on returning here to spend her latter days, only yesterday spoke ip our presence: II am dreadfully in love with New Haven D She gave her thought full significance, for, wo- man like, she used just there the word
 'dreadfully," and not only that, but in the warmth of an ardent spirit, brought it out with powerful emphasis. The most valuable compliment for us in it's sentiment, we ven- ture to say, that ever was uttered came from the lips of the British General Garth, who, on the occasion of the invasion of New Ha- ven, July 5, 1779, had orders to destroy it He ascended the roof of tall building and on casting his eye around was charmed with the prospect. Such a collection of happy homes scattered over the broad plain, each home by itself in it's own sweet setting of garden and shrubbery, was not to be found in all of Old England. His heart at once melted and he could but exclaim in the en- thusiasm of his admiration: s'Oh it is too beautiful to burn.' Thus our beauty saved us from fire as beauty by her eloquence has saved many one from death, and therein defeated justice that beauty might survive.
 As the especial pictorial charm of our city is in it's elms, we precede these notes with some facts upon the elm in general, derived from the best authorities, mainly from Mi chau's Sylva of North America and Elmer sons report on the trees of Massachusetts
 The elm is found in the temperate regions of America, Europe and Asia and is a long lived tree. The species common to us are the slippery elm and the white elm: Uln1us Anae1IcG7aG. This is the elm of New Eng land and the West. None of the trees natu- ral to us are found on the Pacific coast All the species of trees in California and Oregon of every kind whatsoever are different from ours.
 Our elms assume different shapes, but all of them are beautiful. The most admired is the Etruscan vase form. This is the tree which is formed by few limbs in the lower part which rise from the main trunk, gently parting from each other until some forty or sixty feet from the ground and then bending rapidly outward, forming 8 rounding top with pendant border. The summit forms a sheath of regular proportions and admira- ble beauty. Several trees of this character are on our Green. One notable specimen is there in front of the Insurance building. Another fine tree which an artist friend thinks of the best proportions of any in the city stands in front of Prof. Danas residence on Hlllhouse avenue, towering above all oth CTS in the vicinity. Some of the neighbors call it ''Saul.''
 When an elm grows in a dense forest it is apt to run up in single stem or in two or three nearly parallel limbs to the height of seventy or even one hundred feet and then expand in few light feathery plumes. Such was the famous elm, no longer standing, on the common in Pittsfield, Mass It lowered up IA feet without single branch until near the top In travelling through the clearings of the western country this characteristic of forest trees to branch and leaf only near the top is often strongly marked. Nearly forty years since we travelled alone and on horse back through the then wilderness of north western Ohio called ''the Black swamp coun- try" where the soil was exceedingly rich and unctuous. Where openings had been made through the forests the exposed edges of the woods stood out like masses of naked col umns, or as myriads of masts with Ieafy tops. Seen for the first time they impressed us with a sensation of awe Especially so when the shades of night were dropping down and we gazed into their sombre, weird like recesses until the tall distant naked trunks faded away like sPectres in a laby- rinth of gloom.
 The elm flowers in red blossoms on the last of March The flowers are in numerous clusters of sometimes twenty in a cluster on the end of the terminal branches. From these come the seeds which are ripened into B fiattened seed vessel called samara which is winged on every side with thin, ciliated pr fringed border. On the last of May these blossoms and seeds may be seen in abundance under the elms and on house roofs. These seeds self-planting spring up in young elns. In five or ten years they will be large enough for transplanting
 When the elm is young. transplanted to an open situation and allowed to remain by it. self, it is apt to develop breadth instead of height and at distance appears oak-like. Such was the character of the famous elm on Boston common. The elm grows rapidly and bears transplanting and pruning better than almost any other forest tree. It's roots run just beneath the surface to great dis sance and thus gets the best of the soil, that which is enriched by the decay of successive generations of vegetable matter. A gentle nsn of our city New Haven found the roots of an elm in the losm of his garden one hun fred feet distant from the trunk and nearly IS large as at their point of departure. The slm grows in almost any soil, but never at ;ains it's best development except in rich, moist ground such as is found on the banks of our large rivers. p The elm is transplanted of every size, from | i've or six feet in height to that of thirty or nore. A gentleman who had retired from business stuck an elm walking stick into the | round and lived to see it grow into noble | rec. Professor Twiniug informs us that | when he was 6 schQolboy-about the year | SIO-he saw James HiDhouse setting out | ome elms on the west side of Temple street, | ,etween the Center and North church they | were about foet in diameter, thirty or forty | est high and denuded of their branches in ther words hnge forking poles with attached oots. To his astonishment they soon start d to leaf and are now the monarch trees un- Ter whose grateful shades the professor alike Vith some others of us are but too happy to | 7alk. More noble trees do not live.
 A deck hand on the steamer City of Nor | 7ich fell from the vessel at Bridgeport Sat- l rdsy while drunk and was drowned. The | 'ody was afterward recovered. In his peck. l t was found longshoreman's card, number | 2, on which was written William Moore" which is supposed to be his name.