INSCKIPTIONS BURIED IN WOOD. 



first injured the tree been so bent on its destruction as to cut away &e 

 newly-formed tissue, union would have speedily been effected, and the 

 tree in all probability preserved. The growth of new tissue was not 

 assisted by any thin strips of the inner bark still adhermg to the tree 

 by which the descending tissue could haye been conducted, but proceeded 

 simply as indicated above, from the meduUary rays." 



M. Tr6oul has shown {Annales des Sciences Naturelles, Oct. 1853) 

 that the denuded surface of the young bark (in the Elm for example) is no 

 less capable of giving rise to a simUar growth, and this whether the 

 strips of bark separated from the stem are torn upwards or downwards, 

 and are connected therefore with the tree above or below. New wood 

 and bark may also be formed where there is not a single leaf, as in the 

 case of vigorous trees cut off level with the ground. Many such 

 instances are on record, but none more remarkable than that described 

 by Goeppert in the Silver Fir (Abies picea, &c.) In some cases of this 

 sort there was an inosculation with the roots of other trees ; in others 

 no such inosculation was possible. 



The manner in which figures or letters carved in trees are gradually 

 fiUedup affords another Sample of the process in question. Of this 

 the following striking instance is lEustra^d in the Gardeners^ Chronicle 

 of 1841, by Professor Henslow : — 



An Ash-tree ia Coxwold, near Thirsk, was ordered to be feUed and 

 split for firewood. Upon being riven asunder, the outer part of the 

 tree was cleft in two, like a case, leaving the inner portion of the trunk 

 entire ; and the rude inscription represented in the accompanying cut 

 was discovered, distinctly legible, both upon the inner part of the trunk, 

 and with the letters inverted, upon the outer easing. 



There is no date to the inscription, but the period at which it was 

 made may be ascertained, with much probability, from the following 

 considerations. The tree is deposited in the Museum of the Hospital at 

 Kirk Leatham, between ■ Stockton-upon-Tees and Redcar. The porter 

 of the Hospital, now living, can vouch for its having been there upwai-ds 

 of seventy years ; and the tradition respecting the tree is, that it was 

 given by Lord Faloonburg, from his manor at Coxwold, to Mr. Cholmley 

 Turner, who died on the 9th of May, 1757. It would therefore appear 

 that the tree had been cut down nearly a hundred years. Also, by the 

 number of rings in the wood, each indicating a year's growth, the tree 

 appears to have been about fifty-five years old when the inscription was 

 made, and to have subsequentiy grown for nearly two hundred years. 

 The closeness of the rings near the circumference renders it highly 

 probable that the inscription was made about three centuries ago. 

 The height of the fragment of the tree is 6 feet 4 inches. The cir- 

 cumference of the inner block measures, at the upper part 2 feet 

 1'5 inches; and at the lower part, 2 feet 10-75 inches : that of the 

 outer block measures 4 feet 8-5 inches at the upper part, and 6 feet 



