34 Staten Island Association of Arts and Sciences 



twenty-nine years, which agrees exactly with the height and as- 

 sumed age of the Clove Valley tree. 



The indicated rate of lateral growth, however, about an inch 

 and a half in seven years, would result in a trunk only about a 

 foot and a half in circumference, or six inches in diameter, at 

 the end of the same period of time. This apparent discrepancy 

 may, however, be accounted for by the probable retardation of 

 lateral growth due to transplanting, in the case of the seedling 

 tree, or to constantly increasing vigor in lateral relative to ver- 

 tical growth, in the more mature tree. 



No matter what we may assume, however, in regard to the 

 origin and age of the tree, the interesting facts are that this in- 

 dividual specimen is there, and that it is the northernmost repre- 

 sentative of its species growing in a natural, wild environment, 

 so far as there is any record known to me. 



Note. — Since the above was written my attention has been 

 called to a paper by Dr. N. L. Britton (Notes on the Relative Age 

 and Dimensions of a Number of Different Trees, Bull. Torrey 

 Ciub 6: 310. May 1879) in which the following data are re- 

 corded in regard to the "black oak" (Quercus rubra L. ?) which 

 is one of the parent species of Q. heterophylla. 



Average annual increase in height = .94 ft. 



Average annual increase in diameter = .47 in. 



These figures indicate a height of 27.26 ft., and a diameter 

 of 1. 1 35 ft., for a twenty-nine-year-old tree. Apparently the 

 average vertical growth is less and the average lateral growth 

 greater than in Q. heterophylla. If sirhilar data could be ob- 

 tained in regard to Q. Phellos, the other parent species, some 

 interesting comparisons might result. 



