GO 



the Ottawa from distant forest?, is much above tlie average size of our large 

 trees, now fo rapidlj'- disappearing before the forest fire and lumberman's axe. 

 The rings visible on a transveise section numbered two hundred and seventy- 

 one. In exogenous gr 'wth, you are aware the increase of tissue does not occur 

 throughout the stem, but, the sap asceuding from the soil, is elaborated in the 

 leaves and, descending in the inner bark, forms a laj'er of new tissue on the 

 circumference of the stem, around the growth of former years. At the close of 

 the season, when life becomes dormant, the surf^ice of the new wood hardens and 

 when the next season's growth occurs, the denser layer becomes conspicuous as a 

 well defined circle. In this climate, where growth continues steadily throughou t 

 the summer, ceasing only with the advent of cold, these rings indicate each years 

 p. -ogress, which knowledge applied to our tree, tells us that it has experienced 

 the cold of two hundred and seventy-one winters, at least. This rule, so exact in 

 our country, is not to be depended upon everywhere. In the tropics, where the 

 variations of temperature are not so excessive, but more frequent, growth may 

 cea?e and begin again twice or more often in a single year, a corresponding 

 number of rings being formed. Some more advanced observers attempt to 

 determine the weather of past seasons by the same means : a moist warm summer 

 producing a large increase, a cold one preventing the formation of new tissue. 

 To them the section of a tree presents not only a record of age, but also a 

 weather chart of past years. 



Many, I have no doubt, look upon such trees much as they look upon a huge 

 boulder or other such surface conformation ; it was there when they came, and 

 there it will remain, unless destroyed by some physical force. In this simple way 

 is the question of longevity settled, a question which has attracted much atten- 

 tion during the past few years. Unfortunately, the time required to verify facts, 

 and the difficulty in obtaining trustworthy information, has prevented any im- 

 portant results being yet obtained. However, enough has been proven to show 

 that each species of the vegetable kingdom has its special period of life, and the 

 time allotted to some greatly exceeds that of others. Among the annuals and 

 biennials this law is very evident, but among perennials, especially the long 

 lived trees, it is obviously much more obscure. We know that the ash and yew 

 live longer than the willow and poplar, and the pine much longer than the 

 apple or plum, but no trustworthy table of the average life of each has yet been 

 prepared. Numerous stories are told of ancient trees, but they are generally 

 legendary and not to be depended upon. In England oaks and yews are stand- 

 ing, supposed to be eight hundred and twelve hundred years old ; in Jerusalem 

 the age of certain olive trees is placed at twelve hundred years, while the 

 famous sacred Bo-tree in Ceylon has a record older than the Christian era. I 

 find the age of pines variously given in works upon the subject, the greater 

 number favouring one thousand years as about the average, but the record 

 furnished by our tree would place it at a much lower figure, and I think we are 

 justified in looking upon it as an example of the ordinary life of a wh te pine. 

 Every member of the animal kingdom has its allotted age, but it is difficult to 

 compare animal and vegetable life. In the former there is a continual formation 

 and destruction of tissue ; at first a period when the formation process 

 predominates, then a period wiien the forces are equalized, to be followed by 

 decline, when the balance of power is reversed and the body gradually fails 

 to sustain life. In the vegetable kingdom there is no destructive agency at 

 work. The tissue once formed alw.ivs remains ; but a time comes, a time peculiar 

 to each species, when the central and oldest cells become dense, hard, and grad- 

 ually ctase to perform their function. It is the early setting in and rapidity of 

 this process that determines the duration of the tree, which, as this hardening 

 progresses become more brittle and liable to destruction. The years of a tree 

 may be greatly affected by surroti idings ; for instance, one exposed to the in- 

 fluence of wind and weather would be much shorter lived than one sheltered by 



