Name That Tree
By Bill Hirst, Tue Jan 10th

My first real adventure with Tree happened on the farm I grew up on. It was located south of Lambertville N.J. on the Delaware River. Our farm was located on a mountainside and it had been clear cut more than 75 years before. These were like pioneer invaders, they would take over in areas were there were clear-cuts, abandoned fields, places where topsoil had been scraped off and generally were other plants had a tough time becoming established. It didn't mind clay or rocks and here these trees found a home. Over the years, other types of took hold and these continued to grow. After many years, the oaks nearby began to tower over the these and they began to decline. One caught my eye one day while hunting. I had heard that they were valuable for wood to make chests, closet linings,shaveings, and fence posts. I knew the lumber was selling for over a dollar a board foot. Forty years ago that was a lot of money to a farm boy and I couldn't let that get away. I figured that this tree had to be 25 feet up without a branch, and was almost 3 feet at the base. Now you can do the math, this was something I had to do. I went to the barn and got the chain saw and went up to this tree and began to cut it down. It didn't take long and I realized that it was hollow. So I figured I would continue. Maybe the tree would be solid up a few feet and my money tree would be. With a big crash the giant was slayed. I proceed to cut up the top of the tree and to my suprise it was a bee tree. A colony of honey bees had made its home inside this tree. So now I began plan B. I decided to join the 4-H and this colony of bees became my first beehive. So now whenever I see this tree I think of my money tree. What tree is this? If you go to http://www.seedlingsrus.com/SubmitGuess.html you can forward your answer to win a small tree.

About the author: Bill has been raising in Doylestown Pa. for over 45 years. Bill love contests so he created this tree description and