AGE OF TREES. 



AGE OF TREES. 



of vitality resides : in the old wood near the centre life in time 

 becomes extinct ; but as each successive layer possesses an existence in 

 a great degree independent of that which preceded it, the death of 

 the central part of an exogenous tree is by no means connected 

 with any diminution of vitality in the circumference. Hence it is that 

 hollow trees are often so healthy ; and that trees in the most vigorous 

 state are often found decayed at the heart without any external sign, 

 as timber-merchants frequently discover to their cost. Of the many 

 remarkable cases upon record of aged trees the following are among 

 the more interesting : 



At Ellerslie, the birth-place of Wallace, three miles to the south- 

 west of Paisley, stands an oak, in the branches of which tradition 

 relates that on one occasion that chieftain concealed himself with three 

 hundred of his followers. However improbable the latter circumstance 

 may be, it is at least certain that the tree may well have been a 

 remarkable object even at the period assigned to it by tradition, 

 namely, in the beginning of the 14th century; and if so, this 

 individual must be at least 700 years old. Its branches are said to 

 have once covered a Scotch acre of ground ; but its historical interest 

 has rendered it a prey to the curiosity of the stranger, and its limbs 

 have gradually disappeared till little remains except its trunk. 



The Wallaoe Oak. 



Of ancient yews several authentic instances can be named. At 

 Ankerwyke House, near Staines, is a yew older than the meeting of the 

 English barons at Kunnymede, when they compelled King John to 

 grant Magna G'harta. This tree, at 3 feet from the ground, measures 

 9 feet 3 inches in diameter ; and its branches overshadow a circle of 





The Ankerwyke Yew. 



20" feet in circumference. The yews of Fountains' Abbey, in Yorkshire, 

 are probably more than 1200 years old, and to others an age of fiom 

 2500 to 3000 years baa been assigned. 



BAT. HIST. D1V. VOL. I. 



Even this degree of antiqiiity is, however, much less than that of 

 the Baobab trees of Africa, estimated by Adansou at 5150 years ; and 

 the deciduous cypress of Chapultepec in Mexico, which the younger 

 De Candolle considers still older. 



The following list of old trees is from Moquin Tandon's ' Terato- 

 logie Vdge'tale : ' 



There are known 



200, 300 years. 



300 



327 



355 



388 



448 



516 



263, 576 



300, 626 



400, 509, 640 



720 



200, 800 

 900 



364, 530, 800, 825, 1076 

 1200 



600, 800, 860, 1000, 1600 



700, 1000, 2000 



1214, 1466, 2588, 2880 



3000, 40CO 



2052, 4101 



6000 



6000 



Palms of .... 



Cereis .... 



Chirodendron .... 



Ulmus (Elm) 



Cupressus (Cypress) 



Hedera (Ivy) 



Acer (Maple) .... 



Larix (Larch) 



Castanea (Chestnut) 



Citrus (Oranges, Lemons, &c.) 



Plalanus (Plane) 



Cedrua (Cedar) 



Juglans (Walnut) 



Tilia (Lime) 



Abies (Spruce) 



Quercus (Oak) 



Olea (Wire) .... 



Taxus (Yew) . . . 



Schubertia .... 



Leguminosre ... 



Adansonia (Baobab) 



Dracaena (Dragon Tree) 



The way in which the age of -some of these specimens has been com- 

 puted is twofold : firstly, by comparing them with other old specimens, 

 the rate of growth of which is known ; and secondly, by cutting 

 out a portion of their circumference, and counting the number of 

 concentric rings that are visible. For in exogenous trees the woody 

 cylinder of one year is divided from the succeeding one by a denser 

 substance, which marks distinctly the line of separation of the two 

 years. 



In the course of inquiries into the method of computing the age of 

 ancient trees, a discovery has been made of some importance to timber 

 growers, inasmuch as it shows that those who plant for profit alone 

 should not allow their trees to grow beyond a certain number of years, 

 varying according to species ; for it has been found that so far are 

 exogenous trees from continuing always to increase in diameter at the 

 same rate, that every kind diminishes in its rate of growth after a 

 certain age : the oak, for example, between its fortieth and its sixtieth 

 year, the elm after its fiftieth, the spruce-fir after its fortieth, and the 

 yew probably after its sixtieth. With reference to this subject, Pro- 

 fessor De Candolle has constructed a table of rate of growth, which we 

 subjoin. 



