The Pioche weekly record. [volume] (Pioche, Nev.) 1877-1900, 1895-03-07
SOME NOTABLE TREES
The Oldest Historic Tree i,
New York.
THE LEGENDARY CLAIMS TO FAME
The Tree Planted by the Father OF NJ,
Country-Trees Planted by EN-
inent Men.

tree in New York still stands in Yonk
ers Its trunk measures twenty. tbreo
feet, six inches in circumference
Topless, it is yet fully as tall as tho
tallest surrounding trees, and hollow
OF course, being a chestnut and fullv
five hundred years old Some ten foet
from the ground there is a great hole
large enough to permit man TO crawl
into the body of the tree.
Washington is said to have hidden
there when hard pressed by his enc.
mics; he is also said to have passed a
night under its branches during the
time when his headquarters were in
Harlem and he had to oversee the forti.
flying of Westchester county. Wash
ington spent night in so many differ.
ent places, however, that one hesitates
to count them lest the historian should
prove less truthful than his subject.
The old chestnut has other legendary
claims to fame. Indian chieftains are
supposed to have held momentous
pow-wows under its shade, and it was
tied to this tree with their faces toward
the setting sun that their captives
were tortured and burned.
The stump of the oldest known speci.
men of the Rhode Island Greenipg is
still standing in the vicinity of Provi.
dence Not far off is tree of the same
species which last year bore ten bushels
OF apples. The latter tree is the result
of planting ii limb which was broken
Off from the original tree during ter
rlble September gale in 1851. The
Oldest tree stump dates from 174S.
At his own request, the grave of
James g. Blaine stands unmarked in
Oak Hill Cemetery, Georgetown, Dis
trict of Columbia. Unmarked by stone,
L mean, for over the tomb stands
hlcknory tree, which was on the lot
when Mr.. Blaine purchased it. This
tree had once been struck by lightning,
but had weathered the blast and babe
fair to outlive its neighbors. Mr..
Blaine asked that this tree might never
be destroyed, and that he might be
buried beneath it.
Washington City contains more trees
which should be famous than any other
city in the world. Someone who has
counted them. says that more than
seventy thousand trees flourish in the
streets and squares of the Capital
There are, perhaps, eight hundred dis
tlnct species in the collection, and fully
score of these trees were planted BY
eminent men beginning with George
Washington and ending with Benjamin
Harrison.
The tree planted by the Father of his
Country was an American elm. 1t
stands in the north side of the east park
facing the Senate side of the Capitol.
The Cameron tree, another stately elm,
stands little to the south of the House
entrance. Senator Simon Cameron
made the speech in 1878 which com.
PEELED the landscape gardeners to spare
that tree. The famous beech for which
Charles Sumner pleaded so vigorously
and successfully died few years after
it's protector. A hillock on the green's
ward marks the spot where it stood
This tree was probably the most famous
IN the country after Connecticut's
Charter Oak and the appletree of Ap.
pomattox.
In 1862 Thaddeus Stevens planted a
planetree in the Botanical Gardens
The Potomac ran wild in 1870, and to
save the tree from destruction, the
beautiful planetree was carried bodily
to Lincoln Park where it now stands,
seventy feet in height, its lower
branches sweeping the ground.
The Botanical Garden contains many
trees started in life by eminent men.
Among them is an over-cup oak planted
by John @. Crittenden in 1861. Sem
ator Crittenden will be remembered as
the great Kentucky peacemaker. SEN
ators Hoar and Evarts planted seeds in
1889 and 1890, from which sprung
respectively, two Lebanon cedars; actor
Edwin Forrest transplanted two rare
Expresses from Philadelphia in 1866;
fine specimen of the Masonic cassia
was planted in 1889 by the late Gen
eral Albert Pike, then chief of the Scot
fish order of Masons; Senators Morrill,
OF Maine and Vermont were godfathers
to two fine cedars, while another was
assisted into being by the father of
General Blair of Missouri.
The Crimean fir set out by Congress-
man Holman seems to be emblematic of
that gentleman's financial policy-it is
but nine feet high and decidedly
unique in form.
Ex-President Benjamin Harrison
planted the most recent of the memor.
lal trees during his Administration
The trees are cedars and stand in the
White House grounds near the conser-
vatory.
Almost every variety of tree which
Will grow in this latitude can be seen
IN the parks and squares of Washing
ton. In the Executive park alone
there are fully one hundred distinct
varieties of deciduous trees, and more
than fifty of evergreens; over by the
Smithsonian Institution stand twenty
SIX different varieties Of evergreens and
seventy -four of deciduous trees; Lafa-
yette Square contains thirty. seven
species of deciduous and twenty. four
OF evergreen trees, while at least sixty
hve separate varieties of deciduous trees
can be cOupta1 IN tLa etroo4. ,,,J