Nov. 1S92.] BOTANICAL SOCIETY OF I<:DINBURGH. 4G1 



are — (1) We probably have no means of ascertaining 

 how long the stage of decay has lasted. That it may 

 endure for several centuries we have sufficient reason to 

 believe, at least in yews and oaks. (2) We do not know 

 whether in this stage of decay annual rings may or may 

 not be formed in the stem, either regularly or occasionally. 

 Mr. Strutt, indeed * quotes the statement of a Mr. South 

 that an ancient hollow oak had increased some inches in 

 twenty years, though " as hollow as a tub " ; and hence 

 " that hollow trees have not attained, their great bulk when 

 sound, as the shell increases when the substance is no 

 more." But no proof of the alleged increase is given, and 

 faith in it is not increased by the conclusion " that a tree 

 which at 300 years of age was sound, and 5 feet in 

 diameter, would, if left to perish gradually, in its 

 thousandth 'year become a shell of 10 feet diameter." 

 (3) To measure these ancient stems accurately, covered 

 as they generally are with bumps and excresences, broken 

 into, it may be, by gaps, and with scaling bark, is well 

 nigh impossible. Moreover, any apparent growth may 

 be only due to the bumps, and should therefore be 

 regarded rather as a diseased than a natural increase. 

 On the whole, I fear we must conclude that any estimate 

 beyond the roughest guess at Hie age of many such 

 veterans is scarcely possible. 



A. DECIDUOUS TREES. 



I. The Oak (Qucrcus robur). 



Scottish Oaks. — The oak rarely attains in Scotland 

 the size and vigorous look so commonly met with among 

 its English brethren. The stem often enough gains con- 

 siderable proportions, but the branches are rarely thrown 

 out in the free manner ordinarily met with in English 

 oaks, and the foliage is comparatively thin. In mature 

 oaks left standing in Highland copses the arms are often 

 widespread and picturesque, but the poverty of the foliage 

 is usually quite remarkable, 'the leaves being in scanty 

 small tufts, and the shade cast by the trees consequently 

 imperfect. The test of girth measurement clearly proves 



* Sylva, p. 5. 



