HOMES IN THE TREES.

Matamata Record, Volume XIII, Issue 1111, 3 April 1930, Page 3

HOMES IN THE TREES.

The California redwood trees are so huge that it is possible to drive a large automobile truck through their arched trunks. Their like is not to be seen iri any other part of the world. But in various sections of the globe are large trees which are frequently hollowed out for strange uses. Throughout France, Germany, and Italy, many of the trees are cut for roadside shrines and altars, says an overseas journal. One of the most curious chapels is that built in the hollow of a tree, a large yew tree 300 years old located in the cemetery of Haie-de-Roulat, Department of Eure, in France. There are records of hermits, who, over a period of years, painstakingly hollowed out great trees .in the depths of forests for their habitations, preferring such homes to the traditional caves. But it remained for a farmer on a beautiful bucolic spot known as Stony Run, near York, Pennsylvania, to actually build a home in a tree top. Over the brook that traverses his farm leaned a venerable tree. Atop this he built a tiny, house. The structure, perched among the leafy branches of the old tree, just like a bird’s nest, was a practical cosy structure large enough to accommodate just two. When the house was. built the owner placed an advertisement in one of the nearby newspapers: "For Rent, to honeymooners only, a real love nest on a quiet farm." Since that time several couples have slept their honeymoons in this love nest. The branches of the old tree were filled with birds, whose songs burst forth with the dawn. The experiment was such a success that several more love nests have been built since this, and they never lack tenants. It is a picturesque and poetic notion. Along some of the minor trails in California and in several other States large roadsido trees have now been hollowed out to provide for refreshment standsand tiny restaurants. But the town in France is the only one on record which has used a tree for a cemetery chapel, as far as the records seem to show.