210 Forestry Quarterly. 



SILVICULTURE, PROTECTION, AND EXTENSION. 



Dr. Kanngiesser has collected authentic (as 



Length of Life far as possible) data on the age of known 

 of trees, beginning with the Cupuliferae, a 



Trees. family which contains only trees and s'lrubs. 



The two sub-families, Betulaceae and Faga- 

 ceae, differ in duration and in diameter growth, the former being in 

 this respect at disadvantage. Betula alba is said, as a rule, not 

 to exceed 150 years and 50 cm. in diameter, but a specimen on the 

 decline to be sure, of 250 cm. circumference (16 inch diameter), is 

 found at Landshut. Alnus glutinosa may reach 100 years and 1 m. 

 diameter. The same age is ascribed to Corylus avellana, with cir- 

 cumference of over 1 m. ; while Carpinus may reach an age of 250 

 years, and a specimen with a diameter of 3 feet is in existence. 

 Ostyra, on the contrary, is rarely found over 100 years. Fagus sil- 

 vatica is said to grow rarely beyond 250 years, and less in the valley. 

 The age can, of course, be only estimated by the use of growth rates. 

 Kerville has carefully determined the age of the beech at Montigny, 

 the largest on record, with a circumference of 8.2 m., as at least 630 

 years, and possibly 930; other beeches with circumferences of 5.43 

 and 5.55 m. were estimated by him as between 375 and 575 years 

 old, while two beeches in Switzerland and Hesse, with 5.3 and 5.39 

 m. circumferences, are estimated as 300 years. 



Of the two sjDecies of German oak, great difference in age and 

 size is noted, Quercus sessili/iora being the smaller and shorter-lived, 

 the largest near Plantis in Normandy having a circumference of 

 5.03 m. This seems to be also the case with the American oaks, the 

 circumference of 8.4 for a specimen ofQ. bicolor near Genesee, be- 

 ing considered unusually large. [Much larger trees are often found 

 — see Sargent's Silva — but when for purposes of the Centennial Ex- 

 position the editor tried to secure a tree actually 400 years of age, 

 he was unsuccessful. Ed.] 



In a list of 22 noted oaks of Quercus pedimculata, the largest liv- 

 ing one is found in England, the celebrated Cowthorpe oak near 

 Wetherby, which is estimated to be 1500 years, with 13.5 m. circum- 

 ference at 92 cm., and 11.5 m. at 1.65 m. A very close second is 

 found at Villedieu, France, 12.29 m. at 1 m. height, the age not es- 

 timated. Quite a number range between 8 and 10 m. and estimates 

 of 700 to 1,000 years are supposed to be within reason. 



Castanea vesca seems in age not to fall behind these oaks, and the 



