1S46.] Jge of Forest Trees. 25 



trees. The age was ascertained by counting the rings in a sturnp 

 of a tree lately cut clown, and the diameter of the upper surface of 

 the stump measured, and the results are given in the following 



table: 



Years old. Feet. Inches. 



Bass wood, (Tilia glabra,) 66 - 1 9 



Black oak, (Quercus tinctoria,) 200 2 4 



White oak, (Quercus alba,) 224 2 7 



" " 225 " " 



Black oak, (Quercus tinctoria,) 190 2 



Elm, (Ulmus Americana,) 215 2 4 



White oak, (Quercus alba,) 230 3 



" " (large roots,) 206(rich soil)3 1 



Swamp oak, (Quercus bicolor,) 45 1 10 



Shag-bark hickory, (Gary a alba) 180 1 11 



White Pine, (Pinus strobus,) 183 2 8 



Maple, (Acer saccharinum,) 125 2 6 



130 2 4 



Elm, (Ulmus Americana,) 248 4 



The above is a fair sample of the growth of timber in this 

 region, embracing some of the largest trees. We do not wish to 

 be understood that there are no larger trees in this county, be- 

 cause there are without doubt some few, which we remember to 

 have seen, but they are very scarce. Many of the large white 

 oaks in this section have already begun to decay and die, to speak 

 comparatively, evidently having passed the prime of life and now 

 being in their extreme old age. On visiting a piece of ground 

 while it was being cleared of its wood, we found many of the 

 white oaks decayed and hollow to the distance of from five to ten 

 feet from the roots, at the same time the extremities of their upper 

 branches were dead. We have invariably remarked that the 

 largest growth on any one side of a tree from the heart wood was 

 always on the side which had the largest and most numerous 

 roots. On counting the age of an elm lately cut down we found 

 that the diameter from the heart wood to the bark on the south 



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