AGES OP TREES. 249 



reasons, decay and die at a comparatively early 

 age; and in other cases individuals, not more 

 favourably situated to all appearance than others, 

 live to an abnormally great age, far beyond the 

 average of the species. Although, for instance, 

 the age of the "Wellingtonia has been given here 

 at 2000 years, the following remarkable state- 

 ment will point to a probably much longer 

 duration of life. It will take the form of an 

 extract from a communication made to the Gar- 

 deners' Chronicle by Sir J. D. Hooker. Speaking 

 of a specimen of Wellingtonia felled in 1875, the 

 writer stated that the girth inside the bark at 

 four feet from the ground was 107 feet ! He 

 continued : ' Its wood was very compact, and 

 showed, throughout a considerable portion of the 

 trunk, thirty annual rings to the inch. This, if 

 the rings were of uniform diameter in the rest of 

 the trunk, would give thejincredible age of 6400 ; 

 but as the interior rings of such trees are much 

 broader than the outer, half that number to the 

 inch is a more conceivable estimate, and would 

 give an average of 3500 years ! The only other 

 instance of careful counting^which we can find is 



