Newark post., 1915-04-07
Trees And Birds Of
The Neighborhood
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Continued from page y
quired-nothing but an expressed
interest in birds. This Club was
instituted in January, 1913, by
one person. One year later the
club had a membership of $4,000
and in 1915, over 900.
Our Trees
Professor C. A. McCue Of the
Horticultural department, Della
ware College, gave an interesting
review of the trees of the neigh
borhood. The speaker in introduc-
tory remarks explained the tree
regions Of the United States: the
region Of northern coniferous
trees, the southern pine region of
the south, and intermingling with
the two the hardwood area of the
United States. Delaware lies at
the point where all these timber
areas come together. Some of the
southern pines grow as far north
as Connecticut; and some of the
northern trees straggle as far
south as the Carolinas. Especially
IN Sussex county, Delaware, are
to be found such trees as the bay
and bald cypress-true southern
trees. The speaker referred sepa-
rately to the many varieties of
trees that may be seen in this To-
cality, calling each by name, and
locating for his hearers, speci-
mems.
The pines, Professor McCue de-
clared, are not native to this coun-
try, but were brought from Eu-
rope. Fine specimens of the
white pine may be seen on Mr..
Walter Curtis lawn, and on the
David Jaquett property north of
town. A group of pitch pine trees
may be seen from the car window
on the Pennsylvania railroad near
Stanton; also from the windows
of the Delaware City train, look
ing over the country toward Glas-
gov. The most common member
of the pine family found in this
locality is the scrub, which may be
seen on the lawn of the Jex prop
erty. Tamarac or larch trees may
be found on Mr.. Walter Curtis
lawn. This tree is peculiar among
the conlferOus trees, in that the
green drops from the branches in
the fall, and the tree remains
bare until spring. The bald cy-
press is the only other pine that
drops in winter. Of the spruces
none are native here, although the
Norwood and Colorado blue, are
largely used in landscape work.
The black spruce is peculiar be-
cause of its varying size, accord
ing to the location in which it
grows. The farther south the
tree is grown, the larger will be
its size. Professor McCue has
found them in the south over
three feet through, and over 100
feet high. The hemlocks, al
though not native here, are COM
mon in paintings. A beautiful
specimen of the hemlock used as
a hedge may be seen in Mr.. Wal
ttr Curtis lawn, along the line
running south from the house to
the Joseph Thomas property. The
arbor vitae or cedars, although
none are native, are found in many
varieties. A specimen of the yew,
European variety, may be seen in
Mr.. Frazer's yard.
In his enumeration of the hard
wood trees found in the locality,
Professor McCue began with the
walnuts and butternuts. He re-
ferred to the fact that walnuts
never grow in groves, and gave
as the reason, the size of the
nuts or seeds. Since the seeds
of the wild trees are scattered by
birds and rodents this makes the
distribution of the tree difficult.
The walnut is perhaps the most
valuable hardwood tree we have.
This region has been well-scouted
for big walnuts. In order to be of
commercial value the tree must be
at least two feet through. The
hickory is confined to the Pied
mont section of the Atlantic
Coastal plain. (The dividing line
between the Coastal plain and the
Piedmont in Delaware is often
spoken of as the railroad lines:
sometimes as the White Clay or
Christiana Creeks.) In this i'm
mediate locality we have only one
variety of the roplars, a tree
imported by the early settlers
from Europe. Two splendid spec
linens of this kind. commonly