ARBOR DA Y MANUAL. 



293 



<Jown, thus effacing from the group the traitor, Judas, who, he declared, should 

 have no lot with the faithful. 



In Latin myths, the Fig tree was held sacred to Bacchus, and employed in 

 religious ceremonies. A tree of this variety is said to have overshadowed 

 Romulus and Remus, the twin founders of Rome, in the wolf's cave. The 

 sacred Fig is chiefly planted in India as a religious object, being regarded as 

 sacred by both Brahmas and Buddhists. A gigantic tree of this variety, grow- 

 ing in Ceylon, is said to be one of the oldest trees in the world, and, if tradition 

 is to be trusted, it grew from a branch of the tree under which Gantama Buddha 

 became endued with divine powers, and has always been held in the highest 

 veneration. 



Vick's Magazine. F. L. SHELDON. 



A TREE'S RECORD OF ITS LIFE. 



IT is not known to even' one that a tree keeps a record within its stem of the 

 character of each successive season since it began its growth. If a Peach 

 tree, for instance, be examined after it has been cut down, the ring of wood 

 formed in each year will show by its amount whether the summer of that year 

 was warm or dry, or otherwise favorable or adverse ; and by the condition of 

 the wood, the character of the winter will be denoted. Severe early frost will 

 leave a layer of soft, decaying wood ; and later frosts will be indicated by a 

 change of color, if nothing more. 



If a summer has been so dry as to cause a total rest between the growths of 

 June and September, the annual ring for that year will be a double one, and 

 sometimes barely distinguishable as one, but liable to be taken, by a not very 

 close observer, for two different years' growth. 



At a late meeting of the Botanical Society of Edinburgh, Sir Robert Christisun 

 gave the results of measurements of large trees of different species made annu- 

 ally on lines of girth marked permanently with paint. In the very unfavorable 

 season of 1879, the deficiency in summer temperature was nearly ten degrees. 

 In seven Oak trees, of different species, the deficiency in annual increase of 

 girth was ten per cent. In eleven other deciduous trees, it was forty-two per 

 cent ; and in seventeen Pines it was twenty per cent, different species of the 

 same family giving very nearly similar results. 

 Vick's Magazine. 



Nearly all the tributaries of the upper Mississippi have lost one-half of their 

 former supply of water. Inundations in the spring are more frequent, while 

 now in the summer the depth of many of these rivers average hardly more 

 inches than could be measured by feet thirty years ago. The snow-fall is irreg- 

 ular, and the climate is subject to abrupt changes at all seasons of the year. 

 The Legislatures of the North-Western States are being roused to the fact 

 the forests must be preserved. 



