The chestnut-tree under which the brave General Wooster received his death-wound has long since been cut into rails, and Lossing, the historian, says: "The owner of the land pointed out the locality to me, and expressed the patriotic opinion that Congress ought to do something. He had long contemplated the erection of a chestnut post at his own expense, but having done that, the public would expect him to paint some lettering on't, and he was not disposed to bear the whole burden himself."
The oak on the Van Cortland estate which was used as a whipping-post during the Revolution; the chestnut on Gallows Hill, where the spy Edmund Palmer was hanged by order of General Putnam, who would not listen to the poor young man's wife as she begged piteously for his life; the tulip-tree on which ten Tories were hanged the morning after King's Mountain battle in 1780; and the whitewood under whose shadow the captors of André caused him to strip, and found the papers they were looking for, in his stockings, and which was struck by lightning the very day that the news of Arnold's death reached Tarrytown, and many more—are all of interest; and a leaf from the old trees or those that have sprung from them, or even a blade of grass from the spot, could be got with a little trouble, and would make a most interesting album. At the Peekskill Military Academy there are several historical oaks, and one under which General Putnam watched the British fleet off the Dunderberg, and the smoke of the British encampment at Verplanck's Point, and on which the spy Daniel Strong was hanged for enticing men to desert from the American army. Salem, New Jersey, has a venerable oak in one of its principal streets that must have been a tree of majestic proportions when John Fenwick landed there one fine October day 205 years ago. New Haven, Connecticut, is noted for its elms, and is called the "City of Elms"; those around the public square and vicinity were planted by the Rev. David Austin and the Hon. James Hillhouse, and some of them are quite famous for the deeds they have witnessed.
At Charleston, South Carolina, upon the grounds of a colored man called Mitchell, are the only cork-trees in North America. They were given him by a lady to whom he had rendered some slight service. There are two of them, and he is very proud of them, giving a leaf from them as so much gold. There have been many beautiful poems written about trees that might well be copied into your leaf albums, and which would add greatly to their interest.
A leaf can be obtained from the Washington Elm, Peekskill Oak, New Haven Elms, Salem Oak, and the Mitchell Cork-trees, as they are still standing, and a blade of grass or a flower can be easily got from the place where most of the others grew.
SUMMER GARDENING—SETTING OUT PLANTS.—Drawn by S. G. McCutcheon.
