On the Leafing of certain Trees, by Rev. J. Farquharson. 89 



The Lime {Tilia JEuropcea) is one of a row of young trees 

 planted in 1858, which come into leaf sometimes a week before 

 the older trees of the same species growing about the Manse. I 

 have given the date of leafing, not from the time when the first 

 fringe of green is seen projecting beyond the scale of the bud, 

 but from the first real opening of the bud. In certain cold and 

 dry seasons the Lime does not burst, but rather crawls into leaf, 

 an interval of several days elapsing between the first appearance 

 of green, and the true expansion of the bud ; but it is possible, 

 notwithstanding this indeterminateness, to fix the date of true 

 expansion. 





1861. 



1862. 



1863. 



1864. 



1865. 



Plane (leafing), April 



19 



25 



10 



18 



20 



Maple (flowering), do. 



21 



21 



4 



20 



21 



Lime (leafing), do. 



22 



29 



17 



27 



26 



1866. 1867. 



1868. 



1869. 



1870 



. 1871. 



1872. 



Plane, April 27 17 



15 



18 



19 



3 



15 



Maple, April 23 20 



6 



14 



18 



12 



8 



Lime, May 9 May 4 



Ap. 19 



25 



21 



May 5 



Ap. 25 





1873. 



1874. 



1875. 



1876. 





Plane, April 



18 



13 



16 



24 





Maple, April 



19 



10 



18 



24 





Lime, April 



30 



21 



27 : 



May 6 





It will be seen that the leafing and flowering of the three trees 

 have had the following range : — 



Plane, April 3rd to 27th - 24 days. 

 Maple, April 4th to 24th - 20 ,, 

 Lime, April 17th to May 9th - 22 ,, 



The Lime is always last ; but, while in eight of the years the 

 Plane is seen to leaf before the Maple flowers, in the other eight 

 the Maple has the advantage of the Plane ; and when the Maple 

 wins the race, it generally wins by a longer space than the Plane 

 can show in its successful years. To explain these differences a 

 meteorological register would require to be set alongside the 

 dates now given ; but it appears to me that the Plane, the hardier 

 tree of the two, is less influenced by fine weather in its date of 

 leafing than the Maple is by the same cause in its flowering, the 

 latter responding with promptness to the call of a mild and 

 sunny spring, and shooting ahead of its competitor. I come to 

 this conclusion notwithstanding the Plane's early date in 1871. 

 The other years seem to justify it. 



