Mode of estimating' Growth 41 



rounded by a circle of trees 50 to 60 feet in height, 

 inside which the assemblies of the infant colony 

 were held. 



It has been questioned whether some of these 

 trees may not produce more than one ring in a 

 year. In this country it is certain that only one 

 annual ring can be produced in young trees, but 

 then it seldom happens that a yew exceeds two 

 hundred years without having the main stem injured 

 by storms or disease, and it is impossible beyond 

 this period to depend upon the number of rings as 

 a test of age. 



In young trees which have not been injured, and 

 in which the trunk remains sound, the number of 

 annual rings represents their age. This is true of 

 those which under the same conditions have reached 

 the age of two hundred years, and even somewhat 

 beyond this period. 



Thus, in a tree of the known age of two hun- 

 dred and forty years, which was cut down on Inch 

 Lonaig, Loch Lomond, Sir Robert Christison and 

 Mr. Gordon counted 237 rings in the longer, and 

 227 in the shorter diameter. In another tree 227 

 rings were counted, but in this instance there were 

 three separate centres, a fact of great importance, 

 indicating that three separate branches or trunks 

 had become welded together. Beyond the age of 

 200 to 250 years this method is no longer reliable, 

 for at this period the tree has attained its full 



