Inseparably connected with Harvard College and Cambridge is the thought of Lowell and his beloved Elmwood. Among its noble trees are two sturdy elms brought from England before the Revolution. Lowell's fondness for these and, other trees near his home often crops out in his letters and poems. The group of willows on the bank of the Charles river near the Longfellow park are especially notable. Three of them are included in the River Front park.
‘These willows, doubtless of an older date than the town of Cambridge itself, apart from their romantic association with a poet's nook of inspiration, should certainly be cherished for their own beauty and venerable dignity, which cannot fail to impress one gazing up at their gnarled and time-worn branches.’ This spot is called one of the most sacred in all sacred Cambridge. The neighborhood of the common may be called one of the most beautiful, from the profusion of elm and other trees which adorn it, many of them in their prime.
A short distance over the Cambridge line, in Arlington, stands the great Whittemore elm, which is said to have been set out by Samuel Whittemore in 1724. Not very long ago there were two trees, standing on opposite sides of the street, which together formed a most imposing entrance to the pleasant town of Arlington.
In an article on historic trees in the New England Magazine for July, 1900, from which many of the statements in this paper are taken, we note that the elm outranks all others in the number of times it is mentioned. Elms, singly or in groups, are mentioned thirty-five times, while oaks are mentioned only six times, fruit trees nine times, willows and pines three times, other common trees only once. Elms brought from England are mentioned eight times. The reasons for choosing the elm as a shade tree might be given as follows: It is comparatively rapid in growth, is safely transplanted, requires little care, admits of severe pruning, and combines in a remarkable degree, when old, size and beauty. Oaks, having a long tap root, thrive best on the spot where the acorn is planted.
