PRACTICAL ARBORICULTURE 283 
interior wood having rotted and crumbled away, yet the roots and branches 
are alive and growing thriftily, and the outer walls are fresh and green, 
notwithstanding two-thirds of its bulk, the oldest formed, is dead and gone. 
Such a tree has lost its greatest value centuries ago. 
Youth is life, energy, strength, vitality, elasticity, no matter whether it 
be in the animal or vegetable world. 
The oak, at thirty years, having made a rapid growth, is in its prime. 
This wood is sought by the manufacturers, while in an ancient tree the wood 
is dead, brittle, and for many purposes of far less value. 
Second-growth hickory, that young, vigorous timber which quickly 
springs up in an old clearing, where the vegetable mould is abundant to stim- 
ulate rapid growth, is of much greater value than lumber made from older 
trees. 
A woodsman never chose an old tree from which to make an ax handle, 
but seeks a young pecan or a hickory sapling which possesses the necessary 
strength and elasticity. 
The best carriage spokes are made from second-growth hickory—the tree 
from twenty to thirty years growth—while the locust rapidly decreases 
in value after the fifteenth year. 
From careful measurement made of many trees growing in parks, and 
of well known age, the following table is prepared: 
AVERAGE ANNUAL INCREASE IN GIRTH FROM PLANTING. 
Inches. Inches. Inches. 
Ash ...............2.8 K’nt’cky Coffee Tree2.6 Oak, Red .......... Bus 
Birchten.n3 elites eons Ava Woanehs skews eo ee BO) Oak? “BIBCK: spon ined. 223 
Buckeyes conceit) MBOCUSH) £402 oer 4:0 Oak. Burr. -e2e5 
@heStiiits said facet 2.9 Lombardy Poplar ..5.5 Oak, Willow ...... BEG 
Gatal pal sssesumiee A Site Waa Esch olen eee ema 2.73 Pine, White .<i0-+4/2e2 
Cottonwood ........ 7.0 Maple, White ...... Geo Sweet Gums aga eink 2s 
Felina ANVnites eee, 3.2) Maple, Red 2 sccssc..220 Sycamore: sxc ks 3.9 
Bemloek® .hs.4 ene 1.7 Maple, Sugar ...... 2.1 Spruce, Norway ....2.4 
FNCKORY nacee ian @uds MUlbery: .scec ties AsO. “Tulip: Roplat 2. 44.53 D7. 
Honey Locust ...... g20r Wild: Cherry yates 1.8 Weeping Willow ....7.0 
TREES WHICH HAVE GROWN IN FOURTEEN YEARS. 
Common Name. Scientific Name. Height in feet. Girth, in. 
WSinit! 02a een ie eae Sila MICRA A can Gea eecetae esaeonde 40 46 
Yellow Poplar ......... Liriodendron tulipifera ......... 35 38 
Silver Maple ...........- Acer dasycarpum wean. nag eee es 50 81 
Red Maple .........-.. ASCer TUDE UI ui et tte eens es 30 30 
Sugar Maple: ...,s2e.+% Acer Sacchannuin: sacseccu. nears 2e 24 
White Poplar .......... Populus monilifera ............. 60 96 
Lombardy Poplar ...... Populus dilatata ............... 65 78 
Weeping Willow ....... Salix Babylonica: 22. 2:ccunectie 45 96 
