WOUNDS AND INJURIES TO TREES. 175 



First. The wearinj» cIotvu of the mountaius aud hills; the debris, as it descends, de- 

 etroyiug the forests ou their sides. At Pleasant Valley (where the stage-road from 

 Corinne to Helena crosses the range), in the basaltic cauou, this action even now ap- 

 pears to Vie in process, many of the blocks of stone having recently been loosened and 

 rolled downward, carrying with them the pines, which may yet be seen. Here every 

 stage of the process can be observed. 



Secondly. In many places, at the last-mentioned point, at the head of Black-Tail- 

 Deer Creek, along tlie headwaters of Sweetwater, the largest trees appear to bo dyiag 

 without any apparent cause, no evidence of fire being visible. 



Thirdly. With the exception of two or three points, where the forest is once destroyed, 

 it never renews itself. At one point west of the range, ou the road from Helena to 

 Deer Lodge, I noticed a grove of young pines or firs which were growing upon what 

 appeared to be a burned district. At one or two points in the interior of the mountains, 

 back of Denver, I noticed the same thing ; also ou the Baton Mountains. Bur, the re- 

 verse is not only the general but almost the universal rule throughout this immense 

 extent of the country. Add to this the immense destruction by fire, and the wanton 

 destruction by human hands, and the prospect of timber for this section in the future 

 is not very flattering. Unless there shall be some remarkable change in climatic agen- 

 cies this decay must go ou, as man has no power to prevent it ; ho may cease the de- 

 struction occasioned by his own negligence aud wantonness, but he cannot stop the 

 I>roces8 on the mountains. 



EXTERNAL WOUNDS AND INJURIES TO TREES. 



An iujury to the bark and wood of a tree may be noticed long after- 

 ward, as surveyors often have occasion to observe, in following lines 

 marked by scoring notches into the trunks of trees ou the course that 

 they have to run. ^ 



The "burls," sometimes seen upon the ash, black walnut, and other 

 trees, appear to have been started by some external injury creating cou- 

 fusiou in the deposit of wood-layers, which increased indefinitely when 

 once begun. It would be worthy of careful experiment to ascertain how 

 far these abnormal growths which sometimes greatly enhance the value 

 of timber might be artificially produced.^ 



Winding grain. — This may occur in degree sufiEcient to lessen its value 

 for hewn timber, as it always does for boards and for staves and other 

 articles made b^' splitting. It is apt to be attended with cracks or fis- 

 sures, which render it worthless except for fire-wood. The cause is 

 unknown. Some species are more liable than others, the yellow birch, 

 when large, especially so.^ 



' An instance of this occurred a few years since in Saratoga County, New York, in 

 which a line marked in this manner 104 years previously, was followed several miles 

 with unerring precision. There was often found in this case some slight scar or indi- 

 cation, which, on the spruce or hemlock, njight be a black gum spot, and by cutting 

 in from eight to nine inches the ancient as-m::rks were found under this spot per- 

 fectly preserved. In hard woods the external marks were sometimes entirely over- 

 grown, but the marks within were still plainly visible when laid bare by deej) incis- 

 ions in the trunk. 



In one instance a hemlock was found on this line but eight inches in diameter, 

 which, when marked, was but two inches thick. The growth through the century 

 had been so slight that the years could only be counted, in the rings of annual layers, 

 by the help of a magnifying glass, bnt having been exposed for the last five years to 

 the full effect of the sun," these years j resenle I a growth five times greater than at a-iy 

 similar period before. Cases have been recordtd iu which bullets, aud the marks of 

 ancient cuttings by an ax, have been found with a deposit of wood-layers over them, 

 showing two centuries or more of growth. 



-In support of this theory a case may be mentioned of the great elm tree that stood 

 until lately on the corner of State and North Pearl streets in Albany, N. Y., which had 

 many of these excrescences caused bj' driving iron hooks into the tree. These had 

 been grown over entirely, leaving '' burls" to mark the place. 



3 The white cedar, much used for telegraph-poles on lines in the Western States and 

 on the plains, often shows a winding gram, and the direction is almost uuit'ormly 

 against the movement of the hands of a watch, or from left to right. We have not 

 met with a satisfactory theory to account for this preference. The fact that it is occa- 

 sionally in the other dn-ection", and olten in neither, appears to indicate that it is rather 

 due to external and accidental causes. 



