Central Park 
Do trees possess nervous and lymphatic temperaments ? 
Their times of budding are as various and constant as 
the migration-dates of birds, and seemingly as irrespec- 
tive of the weather. There is the same periodicity in 
autumn’s decadence ; the butternut begins to look very 
untidy in August, the freshness of the elm is gone early 
in September, not a leaf is on the linden while yet its 
companion maples are in their full glory, and the weep- 
ing willow, as though loath to give over its weeping, 
holds its rich green untarnished till into November. 
Not less mysterious is the rapidity of growth in some 
species, and its extreme slowness in others. Young 
cottonwoods show a marked increase in size not only 
from year to year, but almost from month to month; 
these are being planted largely in the streets of New 
York City; others are almost stationary from one dec- 
ade to another, like the holly, of which one specimen 
is known to have spent a hundred years in attaining a 
diameter of five inches. Maples grow rapidly, elms 
slowly. 
And how varied and fixed the term of life in this and 
all other flora. With a powerful microscope we might 
almost see the date of its extinction stamped on every 
seed. Barring all contingencies the white birch is 
doomed to an early death ; the most flourishing colony 
of this species is picturesquely strewn with many a pros- 
trate form; but elms are centenarians, the mulberry 
has often reached the age of three hundred, oaks and 
lindens may survive for nearly a thousand years. 
‘‘Three centuries he grows, and three he stays 
Supreme in state; and in three more decays.” 
37 
