1834.] On the Longevity of Trees. 201 



bable, if there be tbe same degree of error in this as in the following instances, that 

 I have made too low a calculation of the age rather than otherwise. 



3rd. I have given in the above table the measure of a Larch 255 years old. On 

 its authority, we may believe that there exist some which are five or six hundred 

 years old, but the measures of their layers must be increased in number before the 

 fact can be decided. 



4th. The Linden (Tilleul) is a tree of Europe, which up to a certain period appears 

 capable of acquiring a very great diameter. That which was planted at Fribourg 

 in 1476, in commemoration of the battle of Morat, is now 13 feet 9 inches in diameter, 

 which shews an increase of diameter of about »20 in. yearly/ This ratio, equal 

 to that of the oak, appears to me to shew that the tree had not encountered very 

 good soil, and I am inclined to believe that we should be nearer the truth if we 

 allowed an average of .35 in a year. As there are in Europe a great num- 

 ber of large lindens, it would be interesting to note the circumference of those, 

 the dates of which are known. I shall mention, on account of their size, the 

 following trees : — that of the Castle of Chaill£, near Melles, in the department of 

 Deux-Sevres, which in 1804 was 49.2 feet in circumference, and which was I 

 imagine then about 538 years old ; that of Trons in the Grisons, known so early as 

 1424, which in 1798 was 54 feet in circumference, and I imagine 583 years old ; 

 that of Depeham near Norwich, which was 8§ yards in circumference in 1664; that 

 of Newstadt in Wurtemberg, which was large enough in 1550 to require support, 

 and which in 1664 was 37 feet four inches in circumference, &c. Should any 

 attention be hereafter bestowed on lindens, those with large and those with small 

 leaves ought to be carefully distinguished ; the former appear to grow more rapidly 

 than the latter. 



5th. The Cypress is certainly, among the trees which belong to the South of 

 Europe, one which lives to the greatest age, and the usual custom of planting these trees 

 in church-yards has gained for them a degree of respect, and preserved them con- 

 veniently for our present object. Hunter says that in 1776, there was one in 

 the palace garden at Grenada which had acquired celebrity at the time of the Moorish 

 kings, which were then called Cupressos de la Reyna Sultana, because a Sultan 

 there met with Abencerage. But I can discover nothing certain regarding the 

 growth of these trees, which I therefore point out for the attention of naturalists. 



6th. Chesnuts appear capable of attaining a very great age ; but I do not found 

 this opinion on the celebrated chdtaigner des cent chevaux on Mount Etna. Mr. 

 Simond and Mr. Duby have communicated to me particulars regarding this tree, 

 which appear to prove that its circumference, which is 70 feet, is owing to the 

 union of several trunks in one. The growth of thi6 tree must be calculated on 

 single stems : there were several very large ones on Mount Etna. Pcsderle 

 mentions having seen one of fifty feet circumference in the county of Gloucester, 

 which was believed to be 900 years old. It would be desirable to possess 

 accurate information regarding the growth of this species. 



7th. The East Indian Plane-tree (if it may be numbered among the European 

 trees) is certainly one of the largest, but the law by which its growth is governed 

 is not known. There is in the valley of Bujuk-d^r^, three leagues from Constantino- 

 ple, a plane which reminds us of the one on which Pliny has conferred such celebri- 

 ty ; it is 150 feet in circumference, and has a central cavity of bO feet circumference. 

 I would beg travellers to prove first, if this forms a single tree, or whether it be form- 

 ed by the union of several. Secondly, how much it has grown during a certain period } 

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