176 



FARMERS' REGISTER 



[No. 3 



30 feet in circumference, planted in the reign of 

 •Stephen; and one near Powick Bridge, Worces- 

 tershire, is 25 feet round. The largest elm of 

 Scotch growth, now nearly destroyed, in Teviot- 

 dale, near Roxburgh, measured, in 1796, 30 feet 

 in girth. 



The elm on Boston common is very conspicu- 

 -ous, both on account of its situation and size; and 

 it is a very beautiful and well proportioned object. 

 According to the statement of Mr. Welles, in 

 *'The New England Farmer," "it measures near 

 the ground 23 feet, and about 3 feet above, 20 feet 

 in circumference." Mr. Welles mentions, that "a 

 publication states the measurement of an elm at 

 Hatfield, Mass., as 34 feet in circumference, at 2 

 feet from the ground, and 24 feet 8 inches above, 

 with a supposition that it is the largest tree in 

 New England. But •' The Gazette' of North- 

 ampton states that there are several elms which 

 would compete with it in that place, measuring 

 21, 22, and even 25 feet, and that one is said to 

 measure 28 feet at some distance from the ground." 

 — N. E. Farnur. 



5. Some cedars on Lebanon, measured in 1660 

 by Maundrell and Pococke, were found to be 36i 

 feet in circumference; and were computed to be 

 then 609 years old, and about 800 years old in 

 1787, when seen by M. Labellordiere. 



6. In the garden of Olives at Jerusalem, there 

 are now existing eight oZ/'ues, which can be proved 

 by historical documents to have existed anterior 

 to the taking of Jerusalum by the Turks; and 

 consequently must be at least 800 years old. 



7. " In the island of Tenerifi'e, there is a dra- 

 gonicr, or draccena draco, which is reputed to have 

 lived a thousand years, and is called the great 

 dragon. In 1402, when the island was conquer- 

 ed by Bethancourt, it was as large and as hollow 

 as it now is. Humboldt measured it in 1799, and 

 found it to be 45 French feet in circumference a 

 little above its root. This tree is called dragon's- 

 blood, because there flows from its trunk during 

 the dog-days, a liquor of a deep red, like blood, 

 which is soon condensed, and becomes dry and 

 brittle. It is the true dragon's blood of the shops." 

 JVouv. Diet. d''Hist. Nat. This famous tree, 

 which has been fi-equently visited by travellers, 

 was destroyed by a storm in 1822. 



8. The banian or burr tree {\\\q finis indica) is 

 one of the most curious and beautiful productions 

 of nature. Each tree is in itself a grove, being com- 

 posed of numerous stems or trunks which are con- 

 nected together; some of the stems being the size 

 of a large tree. A celebrated banian, called the 

 cubbeer burr, stands on an island in the Nerbud- 

 dah,near Baroach in Hindostan. It is said by the 

 natives to be 3,000 years old. It is described by 

 Milton in his "Paradise Lost;" and it is sup- 

 posed by some to be the same that was visited by 

 Nearchus, an officer of Alexander. The large 

 trunks of this tree amount to 350, and the smaller 

 ones exceed 3,000; and each of these is constant- 

 ly sending forth branches and hanging roots to 

 form other trunks. The circumference of the 

 whole is nearly 2,000 feet. — Clarke, Penny Mag. 



9. There are three celebrated sioeet-chestnuts, 

 on the side of Mount Etna, called t/e' cento ca- 

 villi, ISO lijet in circumference at the bottom of 

 the trunk ; di santa agatha, 70 leet; and delta 

 nave, 64 leet in circumference. They must be of 

 high antiquity; but nothing precise is known on 



this point; and it almost certain that the first men- 

 tioned has been, in reality, formed of five or six 

 trunks grown together. According 1o Brydone 

 and Glover, this chestnut is 204 feet in circumfe- 

 rence. 



TheTortworth chestnut belonging to Lord Du- 

 cie, in Gloucestershire, England, has been com- 

 puted to be 900 years old. It measures 50 feet in 

 circumlerenceS feet from the ground; and the 

 hei<rht of the main stem is 70 feet. 



10. The baobab of Alrica, considered by Hum- 

 boldt, " the oldest organic monument of our pla- 

 net," is estimated by Adanson at the extraordi- 

 nary age of 5,150 years; and, if this is not an 

 over-estimate, it must have been a tree of consi- 

 derable age at the time of the deluge I The me- 

 thod adopted by Adanson lor ascertaining the age 

 of the baobab, was by making a deep cut in the 

 side of the trunk and counting the concentric 

 rings; and thereby ascertaining the proportion 

 between the number and the part of the diameter 

 examined and the whole diameter. But this me- 

 thod cannot insure an accurate computation. The 

 enormous dimensions of its trunk bear a striking 

 disproportion to the other parts. It is not uncom- 

 mon to find a trunk not more than 12 or 15 feet 

 from the root to the branches, witli circumference 

 of 75 to 78 feet. Humboldt mentions baobabs 

 having a diameter of 30 feet. The size of the 

 flowers is said to be in proportion to the size of the 

 tree. 



11. Some cypresses that were celebrated even 

 in the time of the Moorish kings, existed in the 

 palace-garden of Granada, in 1776, and were 

 supposed to be at least 800 or 900 years old. In 

 America, according to Michaux, the largest stocks 

 of the cypress are 120 feet in height, and from 

 25 to 40 feet in circumfierence, above the conical 

 base, which at the surface of the earth, is always 

 three or four times as large as the continued 

 diameter of the trunk. Strabo mentions a cy- 

 press in Persia, in girth as much as five men 

 could span; and he believed it to be as much as 

 2,500 years old. At Atlexo there is a cypress 76 

 feet in circumference; and one at St. JVlaria del 

 Tuli, 118 leet round. The deciduous cypress of 

 Chapulteppc in Mexico, said to be 117 feet 10 

 inches in circumlerence, the younger De ('andolle 

 considers even older than the baobab tree above 

 noticed. 



12. The plane tree {[he platanus orientalis of 

 the eastern continent, and the platanus occiden- 

 talis of America) commonly known in the East- 

 ern States by the name of the button-wood, and 

 in the Western States by that of the sycamore, is 

 celebrated in both continents for size and majes- 

 tic appearance; but the American species is said 

 to possess a richer foliage, and afford a deeper 

 shade than the Asiatic. 



There is now growing in the valley of Bujuk- 

 dere, near Constantinople, an immense oriental 

 plane, 150 fi^et in circumlerence, with an internal 

 cavity of 80 feet. Pliny mentions a plane tree in 

 Lycia, which had a hollow trunk, that afforded a 

 retreat for the night to the Roman consul Licinius 

 Mutianus, with 18 persons of his retinue. This 

 interior grotto was 75 feet in circumlerence, and 

 the summit of the tree resembled a small forest. 



" The sycamore (platanus occidentalis),^'' says 

 Mr. Flint, in his " Geography of the Mississippi 

 Valley," " is the king of the western forests. It 



