152 THE WONDERS OF VEGETATION. 



longer than man himself, to be sure ; but they do not 

 live with the life of nature. The mountains also 

 have witnessed the changes of ages, but they have no 

 individuality with which we can become familiar. 



The tree, On the contrary, like the flower, is an 

 individual which watches us and stands before our 

 eyes as a silent witness of our existence. That tree 

 existed long before we ever saw the light it has 

 seen the ages that preceded us ; men without number 

 have passed at its feet who were our distant ancestors 

 during these mysterious epochs previous to our exist- 

 ence. And when we shall pass away, and the place of 

 our habitation shall know us no more, the tree will 

 remain, calm and silent as to-day ; it will put forth its 

 leaves every spring, and other generations will come 

 and play around its foot as we have done. 



Large trees count their age by centuries. Who 

 has not heard of the " Oak of the Partisans " in the 

 department of the Vosges, which a few feet above 

 the ground measures 40 feet in circumference and 16 

 feet at that part of its trunk where it sends out its 

 main branches ? Its height is 101 feet, its diameter 75 

 feet. It is nearly 650 years of age, and dates back to 

 the days of Philip Augustus, when " partisans," as the 

 rebels of the day were called, laid France waste. 



At the base of the southern slope of Mont Blanc, 

 in the forest of Ferri, near the pass of that name, 

 there .is a larch 18 feet in circumference above the 

 collar of the root, which, by its size, has been pre- 

 sumed to be 800 years of age. 



Not far from this larch is a pine on the mountains 



