FOREST commissioner's REPORT. 35 



they can also depend on the drooping of the limbs. Not so easily 

 detected is the mark I have mentioned, yet it seems to be a true 

 one. for in the very oldest trees, those say of 250 years or more 

 and without any apparent determining cause, a gradual softening 

 of the hfart wood and the assumption of a brownish tinge, proceed- 

 ing finally into evident decay, is very frequently seen. Generally 

 if any section is so affected the whole area of its heart wood is in- 

 volved. '1 he softening begins more frequently I should say at the 

 butt than near the to|i Frequently trees that outside appear per- 

 fectly vigorous are greatly in paired in value from this cause. 



As to the longevity of the trees, I should say that for black 

 si>ruce in Maine "250 years corresponds to oboutthe age of seventy 

 in the human being. Three hundred in the same way parallels 

 ninety or ninety-five ; while a 4<10 year old tree is as rare as a per- 

 son of 120. Had we the statistics on both sides of infant mortality, 

 I have no doubt quite as interesting comparisons could be made. 



While carrying out the field work which is behind all these state- 

 ments, facts were found proving the influence of the weather on 

 the growth of trees. In May. 1H93, while at work on the Andros- 

 coggin river, word came from Mr. J. A. Pike of Berlin, N. H , 

 that record was to be seen in the spruces of a series of cold years 

 which occurred in the early part of the century This was richly 

 worth examination and 1 immediately set about investigating the 

 matter. Beginning the count of rings with the bark, it was found 

 on the first log examined that a i umber of rings, being in that case 

 the seventy-ninth to the eighty-third from the bark, were very dis- 

 tinctly thinned. Continuing the search, every tree was found to 

 have a belt of thin rings in substantially the same position, these 

 being reduced in some cases almost to microscopic. 



As t^oon as access could be had to books, the history of the 

 matter was looked up, and it was found that the years 1812 to 

 1816 in Maine were very extraordinary years The te.nperature 

 was unusually low as an average and in 1812, 1815 and 1816, at 

 least, frosts or snows or both occurred in the summer. In 1815 

 and 1«16 crops through the state were very seriously impaired, and 

 many people despairing of the agricultural prospects of the country, 

 e igiated to the Ohio valley. I his severe weather then was with- 

 out doubt the cause of the thin rings so regularly found in the 

 spi ucc trees 



Since that time this zone of rings has been found in spruce trees 

 in ail iiarts of the State and in tin- northern portion of New Hamp- 



