The advocate., 1897-09-01

! Streets IL Is the FRANKLIN elm. jerry
Allen, a poet and pedagOgue, brought
1t into that city on his back from near
by Hampden Plains, and sold 1t to
Thaddeus Beecher for a pint Of Santa
Cruz rum 1t was planted on the day
of Franklin's death, April II, 1890, It's
girth two feet from the ground is only
sixteen feet and its height Is eighty
feet. Most Of the numerous New Haven
elms were set out In tree-planting
fever between 1887 and 1896.
About oak trees, too, am important
chapter in Connecticut history might
be written. The famous Charter Oak
tree, in Hartford, was an old tree when
the cOlOnists first came into these
parts, and the GLASTONBURY oaks, Of
about the same age, are now held to be
over 300 years old. The Poetry oak,
Of Pachaug, stands In front of the Pa
chang Westinghouse. The tree was
alluded to in the agricultural papers Of
the country half century ago because
Of its great size. G. Edwards Lester,
author of the GLORY and Shame of
England" mused under its shade;
George d. Prentice wrote his first po-
ems beneath its shadow, and Galusha
Grow passed many of the study hours
of his youth under it, Mr.. Reade says
Of this oak:
ut has heard fifty-twO sermons a
year for III years, and the political
speeches from the settlement Of this
country down to the present day. One
foot from the ground its trunk is nine
teen feet and ten inches in circumfer-
ence and its longest limbs extend each
way 119 feel"
On the farm of james B. Palmer, of
Lisbon, Is an immense black oak that
measures around the trunk one foot
from the ground twenty-five and half
feet. This, Mr.. Reade calculates, must
be at least 500 years old.
On Bozrah street, in BOzrah, a cOrre-
spondent writes Mr.. Reade, there is
chestnut tree that measures eighteen
feet and nine inches around the butt
and stands fifty-eight high. But the
giant of chestnut trees stands In Mans
field. 1t has butt fifty-fOur feet
around, It's branches spread over a
shade diameter of 200 feet, and it's vast
green cone is reared to a height OF
ninety feet. There is another chestnut
in Hampden that has trunk twenty
nine feet around.
The tallest and stateliest white birch
tree in the State is believed to be on
the farm of Calvin Wilcox, in Griswold.
AS nearly as can be ascertained, the
Ia Pv.ne kNnn in
and presumably in the United States, is
on the grounds Of Levi M. Read, in
Union. It's trunk measures eleven feet
in circumference, ten feet from the
ground.
There is an immense willow on the
lawn of Mrs. w. G. Noyes, in LitCh-
field, which was originally riding
switch and was stuck In the ground by
her grandfather, Col. Benjamin Tall
madge, who was on WashingtOn's staff
during the Revolutionary war Delos
HOtchkiss, of Cheshire, has an apple
tree 14O years old that has borne re-
peatedly 100 bushels Of apples in sea-
son. 1t has a girth of fourteen and
One-half feet. George d. Colburn, Of the
same town, has an apple tree that was
planted in 1850 by Mrs. Samuel Strong,
herself a centenarian. The original
SeelNo-Further apple tree is still
standing in Hebron. 1t was planted
by Elisha Marvin.
Interesting Connecticut trees that
have fallen to the dust recently include
the Sentinel pine, in Griswold, which
was 1870 feet high and could be seen
from twelve towns, and the Wood
bridge oak, which Prof. Abbott, of New
York, and Oliver Wendell Holmes es-
timated to be 1000 years old. This
oak was watch tower for the Indians
and for Cote and Whalley and Dixwell,
and some Of it's wood has been made