Dear Lee Valley,

I was reminded, on seeing your article on the horseshoe in the tree (volume 3, issue 1), of some fancy-growing trees here in Burnaby (a suburb of Vancouver, British Columbia). These trees must have grown some time after 1912 when the Oakalla Prison Farm was established in central Burnaby, at that time a pretty rural location. By 1991, of course, it wasn't fashionable to have prisons in the city and condominiums were more important than farms, so it was largely changed over to that with some residual park.

Along one of the big chain-link fences, there is a whole row of trees having an affair with the fence. Some have been destroyed because of the relentless march of civilization, but I've attached a photo of one particular tree. You can see that the tree has grown right through the fence. It has enveloped the fence completely, without being destroyed by it. It lives on happily—it must be 150 feet tall today.

This may be a pretty common site to the rural folks, but we city folks don't get to see it that often!

Thanks for all your good work.

R.M.
Vancouver, British Columbia

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