AGE OF ANIMALS. 



over a great part of their faces ; and all horses, 

 when very old, sink more or less in their backs ; 

 and some horses that are naturally long- 

 backed, grow so hollow with age, that it is 

 scarcely possible to fit them with a saddle. 



The various progressive changes that take 

 place in the appearance of the teeth of horses 

 at diffeient ages, from a few weeks old (marked 

 a in Jig.) to 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 10, 12, and 18 

 years, may be seen in the foregoing dental map, 

 constructed by Mr. Elaine (Encyc. of Rural 

 Sports, 273). 



Age of Neat Cattle. The age of cows, oxen, and 

 bulls, is known by the teeth and horns. At the 

 end of atxmt two years they shed their first 

 fore-teeth, which are replaced by others, larger, 

 but not so white ; and before five years all the 

 incisive teeth are renewed. These teeth are 

 at first equal, long, and pretty white ; but as 

 the animals advance in years, they wear down, 

 become unequal and black. When three years 

 old, neat cattle also experience a considerable 

 change in the structure of their horns, after 

 which period these app'i>d;ijres, like the second 

 or permanent teeth, preserve the same charac- 

 ter. During the first year of the animal's age, 

 two small, smooth, pointed, and neatly formed 

 horns make their appearance attached to the 

 head by a kind of button. This conformation 

 continues during the first three years, after 

 which the button moves from the head, being 

 impelled by a horny cylinder. Thus the horns 

 continue growing as long as the animal lives, 

 as is indicated by the annual joints, which are 

 easily distinguished in the horn, and by which 

 the age of the creature may be easily known ; 

 counting three years for the point of the horn, 

 and one for each of the joints or rings. Dis- 

 honest dealers sometimes obliterate these rings 

 by shaving or filing the horns, in order to con- 

 ceal the age of the beast. 



Age i if .N//-r/>. The age of these animals is 

 known by their having, in their second year, 

 two broad teeth ; in their third year, four broad 

 teeth ; in their fourth year, six broad teeth ; 

 and in their fifth year, eight broad teeth before. 

 After which, none can tell how old a sheep is 

 while their teeth remain, except by their being 

 worn down. 



About the end of one year, rams, wethers, 

 and all young sheep, lose the two fore-teeth 

 of the lower jaw ; and they are known to want 

 the incisive teeth in the upper jaw. At 

 eighteen months, the two teeth joining to the 

 former also fall out; and at three years, being 

 all replaced, they are even and pretty white. 

 But as these animals advance in age, the teeth 

 become loose, blunt, and afterwards black. 

 The age of the ram, and all horned sheep, may 

 also be known by their horns, which show 

 themselves in their very first year, and often 

 at the birth, and continue to grow a ring annu- 

 ally to the last period of their lives. 



Age of Goats. The age of these animals is 

 known by the same marks as those of sheep, 

 as, by their teeth, and the annular rings on 

 their horns. 



Age of Plants. This, however difficult to as- 

 certain, may be attempted in various ways, as 

 from their general appearances and growth. 

 The continuance of life is extremely different 



AGE OF TREES. 



in plants, and from this difference, they are 

 generally divided into annual, biennial, and 

 perennial. 



The infancy of plants, like that of animals, 



is marked by the characters of weakness and 



tenderness ; in the youthful state they acquire 



j beauty and size, the vessels attract and convey 



, their juices ; the full growth is crowned with 



the robust fibre, and full exercise of all its 



I functions ; the fruit therefore ripens ; but old 



age advancing, the vessels begin gradually to 



harden and lose their tone, they droop, the 



juices move no longer with equal celerity as 



in youth, the vital powers cease, and they die. 



Age of Trees. The age of some trees may be 

 determined from the number of ligneous annuli 

 or rings. In many sorts of trees it is, how- 

 ever, very difficult to distinguish these, and in 

 others, utterly impossible. Some trees arrive 

 to an astonishing age ; thus, the cedars of Le- 

 banon have existed for 2000 years. In Eng- 

 land, the oak is the most durable. 



Many instances of the extreme old age of 

 trees exist in [England and elsewhere.] At 

 Ellerslie, three miles from Paisley, at the 

 birthplace of William Wallace, is an oak, in 

 which, according to the tradition of the neigh- 

 bourhood, that celebrated chieftain once shel- 

 tered himself with many of his followers. And 

 many others either till lately or still abound in 

 England ; for instance, there was one at Lang- 

 ley Wood, near Downton (Dudsley, An. Reg., 

 1758, p. 116), supposed to be of 1000 years' 

 growth ; then there is the oak of William 

 Rufus, in the new Forest ; the Fairlop oak of 

 Hainault Forest ; Fisher's oak on the road to 

 Tonbridge; Hern's oak in Windsor Forest: 

 Queen Elizabeth's oak at Heveningham, in 

 Suffolk ; the Whinfield oak, near Appleby, all 

 of great antiquity. (Phillip's Fruits,- Withers 

 on Planting.) 



At Ankerwyke, near Staines, is a yew tree, 

 that has certainly been growing there since 

 the time of King John ; and at Fountain's Ab- 

 bey, in Yorkshire, there are yew trees that are 

 probably some centuries older ; and the cele- 

 brated Spanish chestnut tree, growing in Lord 

 Ducie's park, atTortworth, in Gloucestershire, 

 which in the reign of John was called the 

 Great Chestnut of Tortworth, was certainly 

 growing there in the days of William of Nor- 

 mandy. 



At Trons, in the Grisons, there existed in 

 1798, a lime tree which was a celebrated plant 

 in the year 1424, and which, when last mea- 

 sured, was 51 feet in circumference. The age 

 of this specimen could not have been less than 

 580 years. 



In the year 1776 there existed in the palace 

 garden of Granada some famous cypresses, 

 which were thought to have been at least 800 

 or 900 years old. 



Some of the trees of oriental countries, how 

 ever, attain to still greater ages than any of 

 these : thus the Baobab trees of Africa, accord 

 ing to Adanson, are 5150 years old; and De 

 candolle considers the deciduous cypress tree* 

 of Chapuitepec in Mexico to be still older. 



It would seem, that, after a certain age, all 

 trees decrease in their rapidity of growth, a 

 fact of some importance to be known to plant- 



