1834.] On the Longevity of Trees. 203 



Those in the church-yard of Crowhurst in Surrey were in 1660, according to 

 Evelyn, 1287 lines in diameter. If, as is asserted, they still exist, they must be 

 1450 years old. 



That at Fotheringale, in Scotland, had in 1770 a diameter of 2588 lines, and is 

 consequently 25 or 26 hundred years old. 



That in the church-yard of Braburn in Kent had in 1660 a diameter of about 

 2880 lines, and if it still exists, it must be 3000 years old. 



I point out these trees to the botanists and foresters of England, in order that 

 they may confirm their measurements, and if possible, prove the law which governs 

 the increase of diameter, for it is in England that the veterans of European vege- 

 tation are to be met with. 



With the same motive, 1 recommend to those who may have an opportunity o 

 doing so, to study the law of growth, and the dimensions, of the following trees ; — 

 the Indian Date, the Box, the Carob tree, the Beech, the Phylliricp, the Cercis, the 

 Juniper, &c. regarding which we have little information. 



Among the exogenous trees in countries between the tropics, the two following 

 have been mentioned, the Cheirosternon, (because there is a tree at Toluca, which 

 his been known since 1553,) and the Ceiba, which has attracted attention from its 

 size ; but it is not probable that trees with such soft wood should live to a 

 great age. I confess however that the instance of the Boalab, which although not 

 a very hard tree, exceeds 5000 years, according to Adanson, shews the neces- 

 sity of circumspection in making this assertion. I would rather draw the atten- 

 tion of travellers to large trees with hardwood, such as the mahogany, which gene- 

 rally attains seven feet diameter ; the Courbaril, which it is said acquires a diameter 

 of 20 feet in the Antilles ; its great hardness is an argument for its very slow 

 growth. The different trees known by the name of Iron-wood, the Pinus 

 Lambertiana of California, which is said to be from 150 to 200 feet high, and has 

 a circumference of from 20 to 60 feet ; the fig trees of the Indian pagodas, &c. 

 I would especially recommend travellers to examine all that regards the Taxodiums 

 (Cupressus disticha, L.) of Mexico. The immense tree of Chapultepec, which is 

 said to attain 117 feet 10 inches circumference ; is it really a single tree or formed 

 by the union of several others ? Has it a hollow cave at its base like those of 

 Louisiana, which is said to belong to the same species ? Has its measure been 

 taken above this cone, as probably ought to be done, if the cone exist ? I recom- 

 mend a fresh examination of this gigantic tree : it concerns perhaps the oldest tree 

 on the globe. 



The age of indogenous trees is more difficult to ascertain than that of exogenous, 

 both from the country to which they belong having been less studied, and on ac- 

 count of the absence of the woody layers, and the preservationof the same diameter 

 at differentperiods, which renders their examination more difficult. Indogenous trees 

 generally appear under two forms ; the first, such as palms, have, almost all, the 

 trunk single and marked, at least during the greater part of their life, with circu- 

 lar rings placed at very nearly regular distances ; the others, such as the Dracaena, 

 have the trunk adorned with branches and are without rings. The age of palms may 

 be estimated in two ways, very analogous to each other, namely ; 1st, by the 

 height which the trees reach at, compared with the experimental knowledge of the 

 rate of growth of each species ; 2nd, by the number of rings, and their mean 

 distance compared with the length of the trunk. These two methods rest 

 chiefly on the knowledge of the height of trees, as the study of the age of exo- 



