HISTORIC TREES.

By L.L. Dame.


THE WASHINGTON ELM.

At the north end of the Common in Old Cambridge stands the famous
Washington Elm, which has been oftener visited, measured, sketched, and
written up for the press, than any other tree in America. It is of
goodly proportions, but, as far as girth of trunk and spread of branches
constitute the claim upon our respect, there are many nobler specimens
of the American elm in historic Middlesex.

[Illustration: THE WASHINGTON ELM. [From D. Lothrop & Company's Young
Folks' Life of Washington.]]

Extravagant claims have been made with regard to its age, but it is
extremely improbable that any tree of this species has ever rounded out
its third century. Under favorable conditions, the growth of the elm is
very rapid, a single century sometimes sufficing to develop a tree
larger than the Washington Elm.

When Governor Winthrop and Lieutenant-Governor Dudley, in 1630, rode
along the banks of the Charles in quest of a suitable site for the
capital of their colony, it is barely possible the great elm was in
being. It would be a pleasant conceit to link the thrifty growth of
the young sapling with the steady advancement of the new settlement,