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 deer 

 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 



