Evening Republican, Volume 15, Number 245, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 17 October 1911 — The Largest Sassafras Tree. [ARTICLE]

The Largest Sassafras Tree.

Atlanta leads the south in many respects, the nation in several ways, but until recently the fact that Atlanta leads the world in at least one thing has been unknown. ,A sassafras tree is the principal in Atlanta’s new bld for fame. The largest sassafras tree in the world, says the department of agriculture. To most people the name sassafras is associated in their minds with thq picture of a low, stunted bush luxuriantly follaged from the roots of which their grandmothers made tea to “cure spring fever” and other ills of that nature. A sassafras tree has been a thing unknown. liuthe year of the First Methodist Church of Atlanta the sassafras tree stands, passed by thousands each day, none of whom has realized that in that yard was growing the biggest tree of its kind in ths world. Few of the members of the church were cognizant of its existence, though it has shaded little children in their play for many years and will probably perform the same loving task for years to come. The tree, according to the experts of the agricultural department, is more than 100 yeajs old. It is seven 'and a half feet in circumference, fifty feet high and has a spread of more than forty feet, overshadowing all the trees tn its neighborhood.—Atlanta Constitution.