Richmond dispatch. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1884-1903, 1884-07-22
REMARKABLE TREES.
Some Of che Notable Monarchs or the Forest
still Existing.

bOstOu lranscilDt.l
- .btr1 ~ tho land ctrfapa n

.sTbe Chestnut-Tree OF Hundred Horses"
and Is believed TO be the Oldest tree In the
world. Its name arose from the report
that Queen Jane OF Aragon. with her prin-
cipal nobility, took refuge from violent
storm under its branches. At one time
II was supposed that IL consisted OF clump
Of trees united, but Oh digging away the
earth the root was found entire, and at no
great depth. Five enormous branches rise
from one trunk. which is 2l2 feet In cir
conference. A part Of the trunk has been
broken away, and its interior Is hollow ana
large enough 10 contain flock OF sheep or
10 admit two carriages driving abreast
through IL. IL still bears abundance OF
fruit, and its collectors have built hut
within the trunk, the better TO promote
their proceedings. At Tortworth. Eng
land, there exists chestnut-tree measuring,
at four feet from the ground, 60 feet in cir
cumference, although at the present time II
is nearly sylvan rum. A fig-tree stands
on the northerly bank OF the river John
stone, IN East Australia, in latitude 30,
longitude 1919, near Bisbane, mea-
suring. three feet from the ground, $50
feet, and at 81 feet, where It sends of great
branches so feet in circumference. There
lies upon Mount Bawbaw. Gippsland,
Southeast Australia, gum-tree measuring
4S0 feet as IL lies where 1t was broken off at
the top, and IL is calculated to have stood
500 feet high: II measures feet in circum-
! ference. In BougOuderch. near CONSTANT
| nOple, is a planc-tree measuring 149 feet In
circumference. At Baiak BOurnarbashi,
Asia Minor, IS a pond overShadowed by
three gigantic planc-trees, the trunk OF one
Of which, one foot from the ground,
measures 43 feet in circumference. The
largest tree in the United States stands near
Bear Creek. on the north side Of Tule river,
Cal. IL measures 40 feet in circumfer-
ence. In Tuolunine Grove, New, stands
1.-THE Dead Giant Redwood Tree mea-
suring 119 feet in circumference, which
has been so entirely followed by LONG use
| ~ a chimney that the road.mlkers could
not resist the temptation Of completing the
work of camp-fres. so they have cut a
great archway right through the farther
side Of the poor dead stump and led the
road through il, so that now the high,
crowded coach daily passes through the
very heart of the great tree, which may
have been young in the days Of Julius
| Cesar. There are thirteen other trees
standing near it measuring from - TO 96
| feet in circumference.
The "GriZzly Giant" the monarch OF
Mariposa Grove, measures % feet In cir
conference. The Tularo-Fresno forest, 50
called from being situated in those two
! counties (Californla), extending 20 miles in
| length, with width in some places Of 10
miles, consists mainly Of big trees, with
multitude OF smaller ones, measuring from
6 to 100 feet in circumference. Near Santes,
in France. stands an oak-tree measuring
81 feet IN circumference. At HOLLYWOOD,
near Bromley (Engand). stands an oak
tree with root projecting on one side
into the shape Of Scttee. Seated
upon that root William Pitt AMI Will
liam Wilberiorce held together 4 converse
| ton. as a result Of which the latter, on May
| H. 1889, brought the question Of the abOli.
ton of the slave trade before the House Of
Commons. The tree is still known "a the
Wiberforcc oak. Plny a. D. 90 tells Us
OF plane-tree, growing IN his time, which
was in itself forest. The Governor OF
Lucia gave an entertainment TO his friends
in the hollow trunF, which is eighty feet in
circumference. John DOwd discovered
In Calayel1s county, California, a grove
OF 1903 trees, covering a space OF fifty
acres, measuring seventy TO ninety-siX feet
in circumference. Throughout all Eng
land there are oak-trecs OF remark
able size. The "Cowthorp Oak" on the
banks OF the Nidd in Yorkshire, measures
at the ground seventy-eight feet in circum-
ference. The famous tree called the
Charter Oak" near Hartford, Conn,
which fell August 81, 1856, was thirty-three
feet in circumference at the ground. and it
fell so as to leave eight feet OF stump on
or G side and six feet on the other. 4 dou-
bIe-trmked oak-tree is standing in q gar
den i'm South Beaver. Pa, which begins al
the root with single trunk. This divides
into two about one foot from the ground,
continues thus for ten feet, aud then b..
como, united again. Each OF the twin
thinks at tiis point OF division measures
three feet in circ,."'erence.
At Enys, in Cornwall, is a wych.elm
which was planted originally on the left
side OF stream, hut having from some I'M
known cause been laid PROSTATE. the
trunk fell on the opposite side OF the
stream, where it took root, and, rising
again. has acquired such dimensions that
II covers an area OF one sixth OF an
acre. The main stem, which now forms
n natural bridge across the stream, is
ten feet in circumference, and the
three trunks which rise from the
right bank Of The stream measure
seyerally eight and a half, six feet, and
five feet aud eight inches in circumter-
ence. An engraving Of il may be seen in
"John's Forest Trees OF Great Britain"
page 232. There is an elm-tree in the south
Of England which measures siXty-one feet
IN circumference. On the Hubbard farm, in
North Andover, Mass, stands magnificent
elm-tree, measuring twenty.scven feet in
circumference. A barberry bush has taken
root in a notch twenty feet from the
ground, which can be remembered by
some OF the Oldest residents during
their boyhocd. At bingham, Mass. near
the former site OF the Old Colony House.
Is an elm-tree measuring Twenty-Five
feet in circumference. The Washington
Em," In Cambridge, which has completed
two centuries OF existence, measures four
teen feet in circumference. Never was a
tree cherished with greater care, but its
days are numbered. A few years, more or
Jess, and, like Penn's .'Treaty Elm" and
the famous Charter Oak, it will be num-
bered with the things that were. One OF
its stout limbs has been recently sawed off
to prevent danger 10 travellers, and it will
probably close its existence with the
present century.
There is fir-tree growing near the baths
OF Alliaz, Switzerland, surrounded by
forest which il oyertOps more than thirty
feet. The trunk is thirty feet In c;rcumfer-
ence at the base. At about a yard FROM the
ground II puts out on the southside
seven offshoots, which have grown INTO
trunks as strong as those OF the other
trees Of the forest. Bent and gnarled
at the bottom, their trunks soon straight
en- themselves up and rise perpen-
dicularly and parallel to the main stem.
This feature Is, perhaps, not wholly unpar-
alleled; but another most curious fact Is
that the largest two OF the side trunks are
connected with the principal by sub-quad-
rangular braces resembling girders. The
space between the rough flooring formed
by the growing together OF the otfshoots at
their point OF departure and the girder
limbs Is large enough TO admit OF building
a comfortable hermfs hut within 1t.
At Prilly, near Lausanne, Is lime-treo
measuring five feet from the ground, twen-
ty-three feet In circumference. The pro-
clamaton of the Reformation was posted
on its trunk In 1880. Lambert's pine, on
the northwest coast Of America, attains the
age Of 1,400 years, and trees OF 1,100 years
are not uncommon. In Norfelksbire there
Is famous pine-tree measuring forty-elght
feet In circumference. At Furstenfeld,
Germany, in a chrnch.yard. there stands
linden.tree forty.6ye feet In circumference.
IL Is supposed TO be 1000 years old. A re-
mari able Oliye-trpe standa near .MaOtiann