Update on Deerfield elm   Robert Leverett
  Feb 27, 2006 07:50 PST 
ENTS,

   Yesterday, I went to MTSF to continue measuring last years growth of
the white pines, but got frozen out. Yep Lee, I whimped out at 11
degrees and 20 MPH winds. I hung my head, silently acknowledging that
I'm not cut out to be a Minnesotian. then scurried back to the warmth of
my car. As I returned home back through Old Deerfield, I thought about
stopping at the giant American elm there. I last measured it several
years ago. It has grown a little. It is now 18.4 feet in circumference
and 104.8 feet tall! Now that is a great American elm, a survivor
carrying on the tradition. The American elm is the Massachusetts state
tree. I couldn't measure the spread, but I don't think it is less than
95 feet. It may be over 100. The tree obviously looks large from a
distance, but one might not guess it to be 18.4 feet around - until the
tree is closely approached. It is a whopper.

    An old white pine at the other end of Old Deerfield measures 132.4
feet tall and 9.2 feet around. It is the tallest tree in the village.

    While there, I had ideas of completing a Rucker index for Old
Deerfield, but the cold temperatures and wind and gawking students from
nearby Deerfield Academy caused me to scuttle my plans to finish the
task.

Bob
Re: Update on Deerfield elm   Lee E. Frelich
  Feb 27, 2006 08:11 PST 

Bob:

The students at Deerfield Academy are probably still laughing about the nut
case who was out measuring trees when the windchill temperature was below zero.

Saturday morning it was 10 in Minneapolis and there were a substantial
number of people out leisurely strolling on the sidewalks in shirtsleeves.
It was calm and the sun was out, otherwise they would have been wearing
heavy coats and scurrying as fast as possible to the car as well.

I have never seen the Deerfield elm up close. You showed it to me from the
street once, and it looks like a 13-15 foot cbh tree from there. As I
remember it the weather that day was perfect, but we had to leave without
visiting the tree up close because you were in a hurry to get to the
chocolate shop between Deerfield and Holyoke.

Lee