198 LIFE OF A TREE. 
nected with houses. M. Berthelot remarks that 
on comparing the young dragon-trees which he 
had seen at Orotava with the giant tree in M. 
Franchi’s garden, the calculations he had made 
upon the probable age of the latter have more 
than once outstripped his most elevated imagi- 
nations. 
It may perhaps serve to shew in a more strik- 
ing light the wonderful ages to which different 
trees occasionally attain, if we place them in the 
form of a table. Thus after careful examina- 
tion it would appear, that the following trees 
have attained the enormous ages appended to 
each of them. 
YEARS. 
Cedar-trees . : ° A - 800 
Oaks ‘ : 4 from 800 to 1600 
Lime-trees . - - : . 1100 
Plane-trees ;: : : : 2000 
Yews . : from 1200 to 3000 
Baobabs . - : : . 5000 
Courbarils  . : . from 2000 to 4000 
Cypresses . - . . : 4000 
What a subject for reflection is here! What 
was the age of the oldest man that ever lived, 
compared to that of these long-lived offspring of 
