Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1912-06-20

\
ere as few in proportion as the vote
Iaas OF tie Civit War to the original
enlistment in the field. In spite of care
and sentiment the inevitable course OF
time is dragging with it the only living
witnesses Of Tie tAree centuries Of
american history. The Washington elm.
WHICH knew the Revolution, is hope
lessly IN its dGtage. The elm trees
that stfcd gUard over Harvard yard
ami sheitered beneath TIER branches
tie civil MAJ veterans whose names
are now inscribed on memorial tab-
lets have passed without any reeosni-
ton save N heir successors Of anotht
er Inc. The oldest oil the Waveriey
eal.s Which might have sheltered Lief
Erikeon under branches goodi9 even
then, is slowly dceaying.
| In the early history Of the country
| he big trees had A practical value,
apart from al sentiment, TO the pi-
oneer. They we're his landmarks. his
guides through the wilderness One has
only to turn to the early diary of
| George Washington, written in the
days when ne passed as a surveyor
| through western Virginia. to see hew
he measured almost all his claims BY
one large tree or by groups of two ~
three. Conspicuous trees helped every
surveyor to lay out a homestead 1t
was the trees with their blazing that
| helped the pioneer to establish a
marked route through the wilderness.
| The Indians had seldom needed the
| blazed trait. their surer wondcraft en-
ahled them te follow their course by
| the study of moss on the tree or the
position of stormfacked branches. The
| pioneer, however while following the
| Indian file, blazed trees to guide him
| more surely one other advantage did
| the great trees give To the pioneer.
| They were his pledges of the nature Of
| the soil. Every pioneer was nee essari
| ly q rude type of a forester, and he
| knew AT a glance the character of a.
piece of land rs tire trees it nourished.
Especially did the German immigrants
| i'll Pennsylvania thread their way
| through the sombre gloom Of the forest
until they had found a. piece OF land
which from their forest experience in
| their own country theS knew to be fer
| tile. Then with endless patience they
| felled the trees and cleared the land
| sometimes cen lsthorielisly burYing the
| great tree trunks in trenches beneath
| the soil that they might assure them
| selves of the productiveuess OF their
new hafresteads
| Eut the tree was generally TO Tie pi=
oneer more a foe than friend. furn-
| ishing him indeed with home. fuel and
furniture, but opposing a difficult obs
stacle to his possession of the land For
be Grs-t ,e ..lr IN
trees. like the Indians, fought the pi-
| oneer at every turn, as If they too were
| conscious of their slow determination
When roadways had once been cut
through the mHtted forest, the trees
rallied to the, breach to regain their
| own. The read that bradtlock cut with
SO much labor in 1855 was so grown up
only three years later that it was al
NEST impossible. For many years Ii
was only by bridal paths and trains Of
ponies that the back weodsnlan was
able 10 carry on trade with the frontier
Yet when trees We're a hindranee
rather than a natural force demanding
| conservation, it is interesting To End
that they excited genuine admiratioa
frem many pioneer. When Washing
ton was exploring the land along the
Ohio in ITO he made a special entry in
his diary of giant sycamore which he
found on the Great Kanawlla. This
measured A. feet in circumference three
feet from the ground and near il stood
another II feet in circumference, Such
enormous trees were by no means un-
common and records, are extant of
many evolutionary explorers who re-
corded carefully trees of as great di-
| mansions. And from Washington down.
wards, through Irving and Holmes.
many of our great Americans have
taken special interest in the size and
beauty of American trees Irving and
Holmes indeed carried the reputation
OF their native trees into friendly
| rivalry with those of park loving Eng
land
1T is almost wonderful. however. that
so many trees have been spared to the
present day. The pressing demand for
lumber levelled ruthelessly the PRINT
tive forests, and the escape of tie
| Waverley oaks before the era of ship
| building is in the nature of miracle.
| The eims were commonly planted by
| early settlers before some farmhouse
and won their continued existence by
| virtue of their service. AS these older
trees pass. however, it is unlikely that
| they will have many successors. The
new methods of forestry initiate
! against the great tree in the reserva-
| ton, for it is clear that once a tree
has attained certain size ii begins To
| decay itself and prevents the growth of
other trees about it. For this reason
| excessively large trees are a hindrance
| in Il properly forested area. Certain
| reservations of primitive forest, certain