Effects of Fracht^re of Trunk 75 



senting the age of the tree, it would appear to be 

 225 years old. But as the central foot of diameter 

 was produced in about seventy years, and the two 

 outer feet must have grown in the same space of 

 time, we have 140 years as the real age. In all 

 probability, nay, almost certainly, it was much less 

 than this, for the oldest branch only measured 8 

 inches in diameter, and therefore could only have 

 reached fifty years of age, giving for the total age 

 125 years, or 100 years less than would be found 

 by ordinary reckoning. Another tree near the 

 same locality has been broken off about 2 feet 

 above the ground ; a series of large branches 

 springing from the base surrounds the trunk. 

 When these have grown another fifty years, they 

 will probably show a girth of 12 feet, giving an 

 apparent age of 300 years instead of 125, which 

 would then be the real age. The amalgamation 

 or welding together of so many young shoots 

 around the broken trunk leads to a very rapid 

 increase in girth. It is obvious that the growth 

 of new stems on opposite sides of the trunk, 

 whether consisting of single trunks or a number 

 amalgamated together, must grow at least at the 

 same rate as an independent trunk, and therefore 

 the two sides of the tree will together produce a 

 given thickness in half the time which a single 

 trunk would demand. 



To illustrate this, *we may imagine a trunk to 



