248 GRO\tTn OP TREES. 



The pith sel- the Spring*, that the pith is seldom in the middle of the ti'unk> 

 middle" cf a ®^*^^P' ^^^ tree is very strong, and in a very sheltered situation, 

 tree. But there is another point worthy of attention. ' If a deep in- 



denture is made in a tree, the mark u'ill go on increasing as 

 long as the tree continues to grow^, just as in a range of Circles, 

 an angle increases from the centre to the circumference. Thus, 

 if I form a cross on the stem of a tree, twenty years hence 

 that niark will show exactly what increase that stem has made in 

 the middle ; and, by the number of coats laid on it in the wood 

 part, how many years since it was first indented. But it cer- 

 tainly appears, on first consideration, most wonderful, that it 

 should do so, considering the extreme change each fibre 

 undergoes, and how often every part musr be moved to let the 

 buds pass out from the interior j but on examining a tree barked, 

 the miracle ceases — when once an impression is made, every 

 succeeding cylinder is so contrived, that it must enlarge the 

 mark by the progressive motion of the parts, the very thin 

 layers that are added each year, and the forcible and perpetual 

 compression the whole undergoes. It is the same with many 

 natural marks formed by the missed buds or bulbs, the existence 

 of which I have before shown, or any other accidental impression 

 The effect of in a tree. This natural effect was productive of a very curious 

 cutting: marks consequence during the time of irreligion and riot in France, 

 on a tree. . ., , . r in 



A poor Widow cleavmg a tree to procure some nre-wood to sell, 



found the mark of a cross in the interior of the trunk of an 

 ash — she never looked at the rind to seek a correspondent im- 

 pression, but took it for a miracle, a declaration of the Al- 

 mighty. All the people crowded to see it j the widow was 

 soon enriched, and it had a better effect on their morals, than 

 all the edicts in favour of religion afterward promulgated by 

 Bonaparte, or the horrid experience of times divested of all 

 piety. 



* It is astonishing, how many exotic shrubs, and even trees, grow 

 only in the autumn, and miss their spring shoots, and have, therefore, 

 the pith quite on one side. I have traced this in a number, and, by 

 taking them at the proper time in several different specimens, secured 

 the most absolute proof, that this is the manner in which they increase : 

 this truth, therefore, like the coming out of the bud from the interior, 

 cannot be denied, since no tree or shrub can be examined, without 

 proving it. 



But 



