Gandle,no one really knows. There is still a controversy as to whether we stole this song from "Brittania,Pride Of The Ocean," a poem which was published a year before Columbia,Gem Of The Ocean came out. Gem of the ocean obviously refers to an island and we certainly aren't that. Here are the words to the two pieces and you can see they are so alike it could hardly be called a coincidence. The man who wrote our version claimed his was plagurized but it's been documented that the British poem was written a year before. 1842...Brittania,Pride Of The Ocean Britannia, the pride of the ocean, The home of the brave and the free, The shrine of the sailor's devotion, No land can compare to thee. Thy mandates make heroes assemble With Victory's bright laurels in view; Thy banners make tyranny tremble When borne by the red, white, and blue. 1843..Columbia Gem Of The Ocean O, Columbia! the gem of the ocean, The home of the brave and the free, The shrine of each patriot's devotion, A world offers homage to thee. Thy mandates make heroes assemble When Liberty's form stands in view; Thy banners make tyranny tremble When borne by the Red, White and Blue!

dad .. who has 50 year old maples on top of old ceramic fitted pipes.. tried the copper stuff for a decade.. it does NOT WORK ... right up there with tree spikes ... etc ... he ended up .. buying his own augering machine.. i dont know what it is called.. and roto's his own drain twice a year ... maintenance is easy ... he did have to pay to have it done the first time..as it was so clogged ... he could not do it himself ... most likely part of the basis of my hatred of maples .... OP doesnt mention the native soil type.. which makes a HUGE!!! difference on where a tree puts its roots ... if its 6 inches of topsoil and then bedrock [which i doubt] ... then 50 feet is probably not far enough ... if OP is on top of a mountain of sand and pebbles... its probably an irrelevant hypothesis ... its going to drain if you limit your drain field with the inclusion of roots... you will pay the piper... if you soil is so porous.. no tree is going to interfere .... in a significant manner ... best answer ... call the guy who installed it.. or any local purveyor of such ... they know the soil.. they know the area.. and they know what trees have caused local problems .... and in how many years .... though we are very nice people.. really now.. what the heck do we know about your local drainage issues .... and that is at the root of the issue.. rather than it being a tree issue [yes.. i intended the pun.. lol] good luck ken

This just might be the big one - so far! Coming down a mile a minute up here; what's left standing in the gardens is fast disappearing. And if we're lucky enough to have all this stay on the ground for the season, the gardens will be well insulated. I have a crew that automatically comes to do the snow blowing and shoveling when it stops so I get to sit tight. Did errands yesterday; got all my paint and supplies to finally redo the den - but there's a little prep work before jumping into that. This might be the perfect opportunity to get the tree up or dig out the never fail cookie recipes.

I can't add anything to Aneliese's remarks, it's a sad part of American history & our children are not learning anything about that