TIME OF MATUEITY. 125 



country for more than seven centuries. It should, 

 however, be borne in mind, that the very aged speci- 

 mens of those trees are all found mowing: in situations 

 the best adapted to ensure longevity, both as regards 

 soil and shelter, having all been planted near monastic 

 or baronial residences, and that no such specimens are 

 to be met with where the soil is not congenial to 

 them. Besides, there is a great constitutional differ- 

 ence between hardwood trees and that of the order 

 Coniferce, The former have the power of renewing 

 such portions of their structure as may become in- 

 jured by accident — nay, even of renewing themselves 

 entirely from the root, should the whole body perish — 

 while coniferous trees (young larch excepted) have no 

 such power or inherent vitality. 



I have often seen young larch trees spring from the 

 root and produce excellent trees after being eaten to the 

 very surface of the ground by rabbits, and sometimes 

 even when the upper part is killed by blister the lower 

 part produces shoots, and the tree starts afresh. The 

 manner in which larch stools sometimes keep alive 

 after the trees are cut is also very wonderful. One stool 

 at Cullen House is quite fresh and making wood, 

 although the tree was cut nearly thirty years ago. Mr. 

 Webster, in the "Gardener's Chronicle" of June 24, 

 1 87 1, p. 806, and August 31, 1872, p. 1161, not 

 only gives a faithful and interesting account of stump 

 or posthumous growth, or the manner in which tree- 

 roots become inosculated with each other, but also 



