Democratic Sentinel, Volume 17, Number 11, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 31 March 1893 — A Tree Within a Tree. [ARTICLE]

A Tree Within a Tree.

“One of the most deceiving objects that I ever witnessed,” said Roman Jordan, “is just outside the little town of Hester, CoL It is a tree some forty feet tall, the first twenty feet of its height being some seven feet in circumference. Twenty feet from the ground the tree suddenly diminishes to a circumference of some four feet. Upon examining it you would come to the conclusion that it was a freak of nature. It gives the impression that some one had sawed the

tipper halt of the old tree off, and that instead of dying a smaller tree had grown up from the centre. It is the object of much speculation and visits on the parts of strangers. The facte arc that what appears to be one tree is really two. The ?;reat old tree, of which the first twenty eet is the remaining relic, was hollow, rotten at the heart. A great wind came some years ago and broke off the upper half, leaving a jagged pillar some twentytwo feet tall remaining. This hollow heart was burnt out more than once by squirrel hunters, who imagined that the game had entered into the tree through the aperture at the base. The wind must have blown an acorn down into this hollow centre, for a tree sprang up in it and grew straight upward and out into the sunshine. For appearance sake the owner of the ground sawed off the jagged portion at the top, making it level and smooth. The young oak has flourished well, until now it fills the heart of the tree very compactly. The opening at the base has been bidden by earth piled about, and also by wild ivy that is fast covering the stump.”—[St. Louis GlobeDemocrat.