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On October 2nd 1854 Charles Fenerty finished his famed poem Betula Nigra (Black Birch); a poem that would win first prize at the Halifax Industrial Exhibition on October 4th 1854. It was published in the Winter of 1855 (this was Fenerty's first published piece, though not his first written - see the Prince's Lodge). Charles Fenerty had strong competition there. One of his contenders was no other then Joseph Howe (Nova Scotia's future Lieut Governor).
 

Howe's poem called for remembrance of the pioneers who had bequeathed such a rich legacy to Nova Scotians and exhorting them to "Nourish the patriot flame that history dowers." Fenerty found much inspiration in Joseph Howe's works. Fenerty eventually wrote a poem about him (but was lost with some of his other works). The poem Betula Nigra is about a Black Birch tree that was located on his father's farm (a very large and old tree - 24 feet in circumference and over 1000 years old). He starts off comparing the tree to man made structures like the Pantheon and the Obelisk (wide and tall like the tree):

No mouldering Pantheon meets my eye,
No crumbling Obelisk is nigh,
No ancient tower uprears
A seer and venerable form—
Scarred by the warring of the storm,
Bleached by the mists of years.