

- - ■_ 



THE GARDENERS' CHRONICLE. 



5 J^**Xl°o™ X of 





KjSgjjSSSl^ 



N HORTICU 









t tint of purple at the extremity ; s 



Wr« every eye It can 

 ^tsec^the^lLn 



UTURDAY, JUNE 2, 1849. 



:::: ;;;.:JJ 



n °f a dissertation on the Age of 

 w edition of so popular a book as 



, T lcal Geography,"* obliges 

 •n to the extremely loose and inac- 

 en statements upon this curious 

 ^ade, by those whose names 

 wrty which ordinary readers will 

 J2J ,. N . doub t trees are in some 



eyreally do, in many instances, 

 ^^ich must appear marvellous 



unacquainted with the means by 

 H to ^. But it is equally 



*toch is said upon the gubje / t 

 merature of imagination than 



At» eu en Sendered in the 



^bxandre Dumas, or a Fouqub. 

 preferred to, the writer has we 

 *** all the extTavianle of 

 I jLw out even an intimation 

 riven ? t K 0ncernill g the accuracy 

 qjp 4? e name of Mrs. Somer- 

 rt sW* 7 ar ? P ut to gether in a 

 y ZT^l ln v telli gent person, at 

 i CeA*Z , V° " e trusted ; as, for 

 ^ylLeban on in the Physic 



, Adanson has noticed one ■! 

 in the Ca/>e de Verd I J amis which had been ob- , covered over b 

 English travellers three centuries ! Perrottet, who 



ad engraved 

 I woody layers. 

 e bulk by wh 



layers, and thus wai 

 the bulk by which this enorm 

 had increased in three centuries.' ! !" The 

 pointed out by th 

 Cambridge Professor to whom we have jus 



quarter of the tin 



as well acquainted with this plant, 



very tree spoken of by Adan.-on. de- 

 ill this plant 

 overlies the whole trunk, as " bright green, very thin, 

 and full of life ; at the least \ 



proceeds from the cortical i: 



say, the principal 



ntality." { F'-ar •/.•• h, >• , '.;-/„• '. ', . y. 77.) 



Baobab 3n feet face of such a truni 



t any inscription cut on t 



express the age of the trees in question. Now t 

 only donnees that we are disposed to recognise z 

 and the only facts in Adanson's tale, fre 



year, 5 fa " I 

 he found in 1749 certain French 



ptionscut on the trunks. _ and dating 





than a few years. Perrottet says that Adanson's tree 



rd of the inscription " rem w 



log visible even when he was in the Isle 



de Sorr, only 75 years later. Even in this country, 



where vegetation is comparatively languid, a very 



brief space of time is sufficient to deface all such 



hide all superficial wounds ; 



Such evidence as could be found in i 



