PROCEEDINGS 



OF THE 



®iilif<»mm ^ntdcmjj 0i §atuvnl ^m\m. 



February 22, 1858. 



President in the Chair. 



A section of Avood from a tree forming a mark of boundary, was 

 presented by the president, with the following paper ; 



The question is often mooted in our courts, whether the age of a 

 tree can be determined with any degree of accuracy by referring to 

 the rings or growth of the wood. 



From the observations I have made during a period of twenty years, 

 or more, I have long since been convinced, that as a general thing 

 each ring or growth of the timber represented a year of the existence 

 of the tree. 



The specimen presented this evening, goes to substantiate more 

 clearly, my previous conclusions. 



During the month of February, 1853, one of the deputy-surveyors 

 ran a line extending from the Mount Diablo meridian, in the Sacra- 

 mento Valley, designated as the 4th standard line north. 



On this line, posts were set and monuments erected as the corners 

 to townships, and sections, and the divisions between sections, called \ 

 section posts. 



One of those divisions happened to be at the place occupied by an 

 oak tree, and, as is usual, the tree was " blazed," or hewn on one side, 

 and with a marking-iron the figure and letter (" \ S") were cut into 

 the blazed spot on the tree. 



