THE EQUINOCTIAL ZONE. 45 



the produce of a year ; the greater or less 

 breadth of the rings also exhibiting the com- 

 parative favourableness of the season. If the 

 number of rings in a transverse section are 

 counted, and the girth ascertained by mea- 

 surement, data are obtained, by which an ap- 

 proximation may be made to the age of any 

 other tree of the same species still growing. 

 The yew is the longest lived of any European 

 tree. A yew, at Fountain Abbey, is consi- 

 dered to be 1,214 years old. One at Crow- 

 hurst, in Surrey, was 1,400 years old, when 

 measured by Evelyn ; another at Fotherngill, in 

 Scotland, was between 2,500, and 2,600 years 

 old ; and another at Braburn, in Kent, 3,000 

 years of age. Oaks are considered to live 

 1,500 or 1,600 years. One in Welbecklane 

 was computed by Evelyn to be 1,400 years 

 old. Chesnut- trees are known to live 900 

 years ; lime-trees have attained 500 or 600 

 years in France. The alpine willow, which 

 covers the ground with its leaves, although it 

 is really a subterranean tree, is long lived. 

 An ivy, near Montpellier, six feet in circum- 

 ference, must be 485 years old. Eight olive- 

 trees on the Mount of Olives are supposed to be 

 800 years old ; it is, at least, certain that they 

 existed before the taking of Jerusalem by the 

 Turks. The largest cedar on Mount Lebanon is 

 nine feet in diameter, and is probably of the age 

 of 800 or 900 years. Two cedars in the Botanic 

 Garden at Chelsea were mentioned 600 years 

 ago 



