AGE OF CONIFEROUS TREES. 15 







centre diminish in width as they approach the bark. In very aged 

 trees the rings near the outside are so close together that they can 

 only be counted with difficulty, upwards of one hundred of them 

 scarcely occupying a breadth of more than from one to two inches. 



The AGE attained by coniferous trees varies very much in the 

 different families. Some members of the Cypress tribe complete their 

 evolution in a few years ; the gigantic Sequoias of California have 

 been living during the greater part of the time that separates us from 

 the commencement of the Christian Era. Between these extreme cases 

 are numerous examples of greater or less longevity ; thus the Yew is 

 known to live over a thousand years, whilst the American Balsam Fir 

 rarely attains the " appointed age of man." 



The nearest approach to accuracy in estimating the age of a coniferous 

 tree is obtained by counting the number of rings in a transverse 

 section of the trunk near the base. Such sections have been made 

 for the express purpose of ascertaining the age, and others preserved 

 in National Museums for the purpose of showing the texture of the 

 timber are useful for the same end. Thus, in the Museum of 

 Economic Botany at Kew there is a section of Pinus sylvestris from 

 Inverness-shire that was 145 years old. when felled and was sound 

 throughout } one of Larix europiea, 126 years old, blown down in 

 Northumberland in 1863, and others whose ages have not been 

 ascertained. And in the Natural History Museum at South Kensington 

 there is a section of Sequoia gigantea showing 1,335 rings. (This tree 

 must have been standing in the earlier period of the Saxon Heptarchy.) 

 There is also a section of Abie.Ua (Pseudotsuga) Douglasii with 533, 

 and of Abies grandis with 317 rings. 



It is evident that while such sections indicate very nearly the age 

 of the individual trees at the date of being felled, a number of trees 

 of the same species would have to be felled if the average age 

 attainable by that species is to be ascertained with any approach to 

 accuracy. Where the geographical range of the species is restricted as 

 in the case of the Sequoias, Cryptomeria, some of the Abies, Tsugas 

 and Pinus, the ages ascertained from sections of some of the largest 

 trees is practically a sufficient basis for the estimate of the age attained 

 by the species in its own habitat. On the other hand, in the case 

 of species which have a wide geographical distribution, and thence are 

 growing under varying conditions of climate and environment, as Pinus 

 sylvestris, P. ponderosa, Picea niyra, Juniperus virginiana, Taxus baccata 

 and others, a considerable divergence in the size and age attained in 

 different localities and arising from different causes, undoubtedly occurs. 



The following estimate, given by various authorities, of the ages 

 attained by some of the largest coniferous trees must IDC accepted only 

 with a degree of reservation corresponding to the difficulty experienced 

 in ascertaining anything like an approximation to the truth. 

 The California!! Big Tree (Sequoia 



Wellingtonia) . . . . . from 1,500 to 2,000 years. 



The Red Wood (Sequoia sempervirens) . ,, 1,300 ,, 1,750 ,, 

 The Yew (Taxus baccata) . 1,100 1,250 



Deciduous Cypress (Taxodium distichum) ,, 750 ., 1,000 ,, 

 Himalayan Cedar (Oedrus Deodara) . . ,, 750 ,, 900 ,, 

 Cedar of Lebanon (Oedrus Libani) . . 500 800 

 Swiss Stone Pine (Pinus Cembra) . . 500 800 , 



