I’m not sure why 19th century Albany hated the cottonwood so much that planting one was an offense punishable by three months in the Albany penitentiary. If the goal was to prevent this weed of a tree from spreading everywhere, our forebears definitely did not succeed, as is easy to see in the spring when cottonwood seeds fill the streets like drifting snow. How many Albanians were put away with “the vilest dregs of society, the rakings of the gutter and the brothel, the profligate, and even the diseased” for tree-related crimes?