'tDiti ;Sife on (^i ($iodiie 



find any scars or bruises, I think that snow must 

 have been the cause of the injury. However, 

 after a few years he straightened up with youth- 

 ful vitality and seemed to outgrow and forget the 

 experience. 



A century of tranquil life followed, and dur- 

 ing these years the rapid growth tells of good 

 seasons as well as good soil. This rapid growth 

 also shows that there could not have been any 

 crowding neighbors to share the sun and the soil. 

 The tree had grown evenly in all quarters, and 

 the pith of the tree was in the centre. But had one 

 tree grown close, on that quarter the old pine 

 would have grown slower than the others and 

 would have been thinner, and the pith would 

 thus have been away from the tree's centre. 



When the old pine was just completing his 

 one hundred and thirty-fifth ring of growth, he 

 met with an accident which I can account for 

 only by assuming that a large tree that grew sev- 

 eral yards away blew over, and in falling, stabbed 

 him in the side with two dead limbs. His bark 

 was broken and torn, but this healed in due time. 

 Short sections of the dead limbs broke off, how- 



38 



