To read the QR codes on the tree signs in the park, you must have a smartphone equipped with a camera and a QR code reader app. If you do not have already this app download a QR code reader/scanner app. It is easy and most QR readers are free. Open the app and center the QR code within the square outline on the screen. Try to steady your hand while you center the QR code in the square. Depending on the app you use, the page linked to the URL stored in the QR code or directions to open the link to the page will show on the screen of your phone. The page has information on the tree you are looking at.

One of the most enjoyable aspects of arboriculture is the variety of unusual situations that we encounter each day. Every job presents its own unique set of challenges that often require some creativity to solve.

We were recently called in by a contractor for the New Jersey Dept. of Transportation to advise them on the best way to remove a long dead elm stump that had grown into the foundation of an historic grist mill on the Stoney Brook River in Princeton New Jersey. In fact, the 30 foot tall laid stone wall in the image below is the only remaining portion of the Quaker Settlement Mill that was one of the first structures built in Princeton in the 1670’s. The Quaker Meeting House was erected a few hundred yards away and by 1700 this was a thriving community. Seventy seven year later years later having crossed the Stoney Brook Bridge where the Mill was located, Washington’s troops fought the Battle of Princeton in Clarke’s orchard a half mile away.

The wall is bowed in spots and the cement chinking has largely eroded. Many of the red shale stone that make up this structure are loose or have fallen out. Additionally the wall is located less than three feet from a busy State Highway that accommodates over 30,000 vehicles a day, many of them heavy trucks that rattle this compromised structure and daily threaten to collapse it. For over 70 years an American elm grew at the base of the wall and established a robust root system that worked its way into many of the cracks and interstices between the stones, uplifting and pushing aside an entire two foot section. Then, perhaps 10-15 years ago this elm, like so many others, succumbed to Dutch Elm Disease and was cut down. The final cut was made at two feet and the stump was left in place to rot.

In early February of 2017, a heavy rainstorm took out a section of the bridge abutment and it became clear that emergency repairs would have to be made, including rebuilding and repointing of the last remaining wall of the Mill. Before that could happen all remnants of the elm stump would have to be removed. However, close inspection revealed that the area between the wall and the stump was very unstable and that hasty or careless removal of the stump might cause the wall to collapse. Our suggested course of action was to first erect a protective support structure and then to release the roots on the back side and lift the stump remnant with an excavator with a thumb attachment. The embedded roots would be exposed with an air spade and removed with a hammer and chisel. Quick drying hydraulic cement would be used to fill in the voids as the work progresses.

Hopefully a bit of creative thought and careful workmanship in the removal of these physical roots will help us to preserve some of our historic roots for a few more years.

Evie Timberlake and Becca Clemente organized with Eve Mandel of Historical Society a tour of the park led by Bob Wells and Roly Machold on Saturday, April 8th. At the outset of the tour, we distributed to approximately 30 people a short history of the Park and some of its trees, as well as Park pins and Marquand Park library bookmarks. Everyone welcomed the handouts and enjoyed the tour. When the tour concluded, a number of people stayed to discuss the Park and the Foundation.

THE OAK ABOVE ME

Something there is that loves a century old tree,

An oak reaching skyward, way up above me,

And branching out forever.

That was here long, long before,

I was a twinkle in my father’s eye,

That abided time, and watched down below,

As some of my ancestors walked on by.

The mischief of chain saws is another thing,

The buzz of the ripping saw loudly rings,

Louder than bells that toll for trees,

A sound that brings me down, down to my knees.

One day the neighbor sent a notice to me,

The Oak that sheltered my tiny yard,

Where I’d come to enjoy my privacy,

Leaned a bit out above his roof, so he,

Proposed to shape it “professionally”.

The leaves were down, the crew arrived,

Carving up all, whatever they’d see,

But stood there waiting before they’d attack,

To watch me standing under my tree.

I frantically phoned, and the neighbor came,

An absentee owner in a classic car,

Retired now, and living afar,

But he who couldn’t stop worrying

That a healthy branch might someday fall,

And damage his investment property:

A tree as healthy as it could be.

An ultimatum was issued aloud to me,

He could cut it be right at the property line,

Or handle the problem “professionally”.

He meant with insensitivity!

Before I’d cut, I’d try to see,

By sitting below, who uses the tree,

I’d ask to whom I might give offense,

Before I hid behind precedents,

And claimed the sky as my property.

He parted of course, his crew maimed my tree,

Only half is left, which belongs to me,

His rights protected, a century now gone

No branches hang over his asphalt lawn,

Did he ever care for the tree or me,

No, he handled us both “professionally”.

Now I wonder if he knew what he was cutting off,

Something there is that doesn’t love half a tree,

Or a neighbor who hides constitutionally,

This poem’s for him, it’s the mischief from me.

James W Firestone