merce.

Long Island, called Seawanhacky, was the place for making wampum or seawant. The symbol also signifies finance and comWithin the wampum circle are crossed an orange colored tulip, representing the Dutch, the first European owners of the Borough, and a red and white rose, representing their English successors under whom Queens County was erected in 1683. Both flowers have green leaves. The rose is the so-called "Tudor Rose," a white rose within a red one, which was first adopted by the house of Tudor to signify harmony between the houses of York and Lancaster and which was the form used in the period of Charles II. In the upper blue stripe, near the hoist, is a Queen's crown, and under it the name "Queen's Borough" and the date of its creation as a Borough of Greater New York, "1898," all in yellow.*

NOTABLE TREES IN NEW YORK CITY.

Inwood Tulip Tree Celebration.

On Wednesday, October 30, 1912, exercises were held under the auspices of Park Commissioner Stover at the foot of what the invitation of the Park Department declared to be "the oldest and biggest tree in Manhattan, the giant tulip of Inwood." This tree stands on the flat land on the east side of Inwood Hill, on the west shore of Spuyten Duyvil Creek near the southermost bend of the creek. Near it are shell deposits and a rock habitation of the aborigines. The Park Department has had all the dead wood cut out of the tree, filled the cavities with cement according to modern methods of tree surgery, and erected around it an iron fence, in the hope that this ancient tree may stand for centuries to come. The operations on the tree were performed by Dr. Edmund B. Southwick, the entomologist of the Park Department. The surface of one of the cement fillings has been used as a tablet, bearing the following inscription in gold letters:

"Tulip Tree. Liriodendron tulipifera. Circumference, 19 feet. Age, 225 years. Henry Hudson entered this inlet in 1609

This design was subsequently approved by Borough President Connolly and the Chamber of Commerce and was unfurled at the Rapid Transit celebration in Queens Borough on June 7, 1913.

and may have met the Indians here who used the place for a camp, as shown by the quantity of old broken oyster shells around this tree and near by."

The tree stands on private property but has been committed to the care of the City by the owners. At the time of the dedication, a movement was afoot to buy a plot of ground including the tree and present it to the City. It is within the area which this Society has for several years urged the City to acquire for a public park.

Dr. Nathaniel L. Britton, director of the New York Botanical Garden, makes this statement concerning the giant Tulip:

"The Tulip tree is the most characteristic tree of eastern North America. It grows naturally from Rhode Island, Southern Vermont and Michigan on the north, to Florida, Mississippi and Arkansas on the south, preferring rich, loose soil and the society of other trees. Its greatest size is attained in Tennessee and Kentucky, where it sometimes reaches nearly 200 feet in height, with a trunk diameter of nine or ten feet. The noble individual whose preservation we meet to-day to celebrate is probably the largest in trunk diameter known in this part of the country. Its circumference of nineteen feet indicates a diameter of a little more than six feet.

"There are, however, not a few specimens in upper Manhattan and the Bronx with trunks approximating five feet in diameter. The roots of these great trees are very long and numerous, extending in the soil far from the base.

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The Tulip tree leaves are very different from those of any other plant; its large greenish yellow flowers open in May or June, and a fancied resemblance to those of tulips has given the tree its name; its fruit is a sharp pointed cone in which the seeds are to be found.

"The wood, known in commerce as the whitewood, is valuable, being used for buildings, shingles and woodenware. The trunk of the Tulip tree is usually a single column-specimens with two columns, caused by the tree's forking when young, as in the splendid plant we are now studying, being exceptional. Its circumference of 19 feet indicates a diameter of about 64 feet, or a radius of about 37 inches. The average number of annual layers of wood to the inch in the radius of the Tulip tree up to 105 years. old, when the radius is 22 inches, is 4.8, as shown by a trunk recently cut at the New York Botanical Garden. If the same proportion were carried out to the radius of 37 inches of the Inwood

tree it would be 177 years old. As trees become older, however, the layers of wood formed annually are thinner, so that we may assume that in this specimen the average number of layers to the inch of radius may be about 6, which would indicate an approximate age of 222 years."

The speakers at the Inwood ceremonies were Gen. James Grant Wilson, the historian and litterateur; Dr. Britton, whom we have just quoted; Reginald Pelham Bolton, the archaeologist and historian and a Trustee of this Society, and Park Commissioner Stover. The children of public school No. 52 also participated under the direction of Van Evrie Kilpatrick, principal.

The Livingston Cedar of Lebanon Preserved.

In January, 1913, this Society interceded with the municipal authorities of New York City for the preservation of a superb Cedar of Lebanon which is standing on the property of Mrs. C. P. Huntington near Throgg's Neck, and which is threatened with destruction by the projected extension of the Throgg's Neck Road or Fort Schuyler Road -- the ancient highway leading from Westchester Village to Fort Wadsworth, the extremity of Throgg's Neck

from what is now called Morris Lane to the projected Shore Drive. The tree in question stands 300 feet north of the water front of the East River and 200 feet east of the residence on Mrs. Huntington's place. In a letter addressed to Hon. Cyrus C. Miller, President of the Borough of the Bronx, January 31, 1913, in favor of a change in the street plan so that the tree might be saved, we urged the preservation of the tree on the ground (1) that it was desirable in the public interest; (2) that it was feasible from the engineering standpoint; and (3) that there were many precedents for it.

In pleading for the life of the tree on the ground of public desirability, we represented that it should be preserved for scientific, historic and scenic reasons.

Scientifically and educationally, this particular tree is of extraordinary value. It is not indigenous to this country, being native in Palestine, and there are not, so far as we can learn, two dozen such fine specimens in the United States. The Throgg's Neck tree is well known to some of our leading horticulturists,

and has been an object of deep interest and scientific observation by them for years. The famous landscape architect A. J. Downing, in his "Landscape Gardening" (edition of 1841, page 232), pronounced this tree to be the finest Cedar of Lebanon in the Union." It was then 50 feet high, but is now about 70. At the time when Downing wrote, the property belonged to T. Ash. This is not only a rare specimen, but it will always remain a rare specimen in the United States, for the reason that the Cedar of Lebanon is not naturally a hardy tree, and the climate in this country is not generally friendly to its growth like the moist climate of England, for instance. But this particular tree, located where it now is, has demonstrated its ability and right to live by the law of the "survival of the fittest," and there is no reason why, if protected from vandalism, it should not flourish for generations to come, for the delight of the people who are destined to dwell in this inviting neighborhood as the Borough of the Bronx develops.

Historically, this tree is descended from the famous Cedars on Mount Lebanon in Palestine. Of the patriarchal grove, only 377 trees remained a few years ago. The trees are celebrated in ancient literature and particularly in Old Testament history and poetry, in which they figure as the emblem of all that is admirable in human character. "The righteous shall flourish like a Cedar of Lebanon," says David (Psalm, xcii, 12.) Joel prohpesies that the chosen people "shall cast forth his roots as Lebanon. His branches shall spread. . . . and his smell be as Lebanon." (xiv, 56.) In an elaborate figure of speech Ezekiel likens the Assyrian nation to "a Cedar in Lebanon with fair branches. All the fowls of heaven made their nests in his boughs and under his shadow dwelt all great nations." (Ez. xxi, 6.) In these and numerous other passages of sacred and profane literature we find the Cedar of Lebanon sympolizing Strength, Prosperity, Protection, Good Reputation and Sweetness of Influence. Solomon's temple and chariot were built of Cedar of Lebanon. The trees are venerated by Arabs of all creeds; and Maronites, Greeks and Armenians annually celebrated mass on a stone altar at their feet. New Yorkers and other Americans who have been to the Holy Land and visited these trees have received impressions of them which they can never forget. And to have a rare speci

men of this remarkable tree within the boundaries of the City of New York is to have a tree treasure of inestimable value and not to prize it is to show less appreciation of it than even the Arabs. To show what is thought of such a specimen in other countries, we may mention that the first Cedar of Lebanon brought to France in 1735 is jealously guarded in the Jardin des Plantes, Paris, where it is pointed out to visitors and mentioned in guide books as one of the treasures of that famous Garden.

In addition to its historical interest as the representative of a species, the tree at Throgg's Neck has an individual and local interest. The tree was planted about 132 years ago by Philip I. Livingston. Bolton's "History of Westchester County" (revised edition of 1881, page 421), speaking of Throgg's Neck, says:

"On the south, the shores of the East River are ornamented. with numerous handsome residences, as the country seats of Frederick C. Havemeyer, Francis Morris and Peter C. Van Schaick formerly belonged to Philip I. Livingston, Esq., who expended large sums in procuring every novelty in the vegetable world to adorn this beautiful spot. The gardens at one time were very extensive. The finest Cedar of Lebanon in the United States is growing here. There is also a superb specimen of the copper colored beech, twelve feet in circumference. These trees were planted by Mr. Livingston one hundred years ago."

This tree, then, has been a landmark for over a century and a quarter. It is a living thing which connects the local traditions of the Bronx of the latter part of the Eighteenth Century with the second decade of the Twentieth Century. Instead of being destroyed, it ought to be given an official name, such as the "Livingston Tree" or the "Huntington Tree," and protected and preserved as a living meorial of the cherishel history of that section of the City.

Scenically, this tree is equally remarkable. It is symmetrical, strong and vigorous, and as tall as a five story house. It is 70 feet high, spreads 52 feet and has a girth of 12 feet near the ground. The great, horizontal masses of its dark green foliage are different from those of any other species of tree in this country, are artistically picturesque, and produce an impression of strength and sheltering power which one can readily understand as having made it the emblem of Endurance, Prosperity and Hos