October 12, 2007

The Stories Trees Tell

By SCOTT CARLSON

To give a sense of the history of trees in America, Harvey Green points to a picture of his property as it was in the mid-19th century, in an old copy of Frederic Kidder's History of New Ipswich, 1736-1852. The land belonged to Benjamin Hoar, and the Hoar house, as Mr. Green gleefully calls it, sits across a road from two tall maples, the only big trees in the picture. The hills around the house roll into the horizon. Early settlers shaved them down to the rocky soil to make way for grazing