Central Park 



Do trees possess nervous and lymphatic temperaments ? 

 Their times of budding are as various and constant as 

 the migration-dates of birds, and seemingly as irrespec- 

 tive of the weather. There is the same periodicity in 

 autumn's decadence ; the butternut begins to look very 

 untidy in August, the freshness of the elm is gone early 

 in September, not a leaf is on the linden while yet its 

 companion maples are in their full glory, and the weep- 

 ing willow, as though loath to give over its weeping, 

 holds its rich green untarnished till into November. 



Not less mysterious is the rapidity of growth in some 

 species, and its extreme slowness in others. Young 

 cottonwoods show a marked increase in size not only 

 from year to year, but almost from month to month ; 

 these are being planted largely in the streets of New 

 York City; others are almost stationary from one dec- 

 ade to another, like the holly, of which one specimen 

 is known to have spent a hundred years in attaining a 

 diameter of five inches. Maples grow rapidly, elms 

 slowly. 



And how varied and fixed the term of life in this and 

 all other flora. With a powerful microscope we might 

 almost see the date of its extinction stamped on every 

 seed. Barring all contingencies the white birch is 

 doomed to an early death ; the most flourishing colony 

 of this species is picturesquely strewn with many a pros- 

 trate form ; but elms are centenarians, the mulberry 

 has often reached the age of three hundred, oaks and 

 lindens may survive for nearly a thousand years. 



"Three centuries he grows, and three he stays 

 Supreme in state; and in three more decays." 

 37 



