THCMA-*.] OTHER OBJECTIONS ANSWERED. f>29 



Seveu times tliis quantity, or nijilit liiiiulri'd iiiul sixty years, is thiMel'nic tin- aye 

 of this exceptionally large trie. 



Further south, where trees attain a larger size, they have ha<l, at the same time, 

 owiug to the more geuial climate and more fertile soil, a much more rajiid growth, 

 so that they probably do not exceed the trees of Wisconsin in age. 



There can be no means of determining how many successive forests may have pre- 

 ceded the present, and occupied the soil since any given epoch, as that of the Mound- 

 builders, all traces of the former trees having been long since effaced. A few years 

 suffice to convert a fallen trunk into humus that can not be distinguished from the 

 other portions of the a(^cumulatiiig soil. 



This result, as will be seen, is based entirely uii the theory of one 

 ring per year. It is somewhat strange that the number of years for 

 one foot of growth given in his table is, as ai rule, about double that 

 given by English botanists. The following is given here as possibly 

 throwing some light on this subject in reference to the growth of ti-ees 

 of one kind in the latitude of southern Illinois. 



Old Fort Chartres, «f Mtuiroe county, Illinois, situated on bottom 

 land, was finally abandoned in 1772.' In 1802 it was visited by Gov- 

 ernor Keynolds, who states that, at that time, " Large trees were grow- 

 ing in the houses which once contained the elegant aiul accomplished 

 French officers and soldiers.'" Maj. Stoddard visited it in 1804, when, 

 according to his statement, "the enclosure was covered with trees from 

 7 to 12 inches in diameter."-' 'J'his was but thirty-two years after its 

 abandonment, hence the rate of growth of the largest trees must have 

 been 1 foot in thirty-two years, or 0..'{75 inch per year. As the species 

 oftreeisnot mentioned, this leaves the matter somewhat indefinite. 

 But there is another witness who is more explicit. In 1820 Mr. Beck, 

 the publisher of the " Illinois and Missouri Gazette," not only visited 

 the ruins, but made a careful survey of them. 



He states that at that time he found "in the hall of one of the houses 

 an oak growing, 18 inches in diameter.'' ' As this was forty-eight years 

 after the abandonment, the rate of growth of this tree was 1 foot in 

 thirty-two years, or 0.375 inch per year, precisely the same as the 

 largest tree mentioned by Maj. Stoddard. As the tree measured by Mr. 

 Beck was growing in the hall of one of the houses, it must have sprung 

 fi'om the acorn after the premises were abaiuloned. 



This probably aflbrds one of the best tests for the latitude indicated 

 that has been, so far, placed on record. Supposing the growth of the 

 large chestnut, 23 feet in cii'cumference, heretofore mentioned as stand- 

 ing on one of the Ohio works, to have been at the same rate, its age 

 was 233 years, instead of COO, as the rings indicated. This, it is ad- 

 mitted, is little better than mere guessing, but taking for granted, as 

 recent investigations show, that the rings of growth cannot be relied 



'E. G. Mason. "Old Fort Cbartres" in Fergus' Hist. Series, No. 12. "niinois in the 18th Cen- 

 tury," p. 42. (Paper road before (.'hieago Hist. Soc, .Tune 16, 1884.) 

 'Hist. Illinois, ed. 1879, p. 26. 

 3E. G. Mason, loc. eit. 

 ■Beck'sGazetteer of Illinois Willi Missouri. -Vlliiniy, 1X21!, p|i. 1011-1 111. 



