304 CONCLUSION. 



more ready to reveal it than others who have an 

 uneasy consciousness of length of days. Very differ- 

 ent estimates have been made. Some of our mission- 

 ary band, who have experience of such matters, and 

 confidence in the results, have counted the growth (as 

 we Western people call the annual concentric circles) 

 for a few inches into the trunk of the oldest cedar, 

 and from such data carry back its birth 3500 years. 

 It may be so : they are carved full of names and 

 dates, going back several generations, and the growth 

 since the earliest date has been almost nothing." 



DTJKES. 



Of distinguished Duke planters of the name John, 

 may be mentioned His Grace John, Duke of Athole, 

 the celebrated and renowned larch - planter, who 

 planted at Blair -Athole and Dunkeld between the 

 years 1774 and 1830 the unprecedented nimiber of 

 24,756,000 trees (principally larch), on 15,473 im- 

 perial acres of ground. 



His Grace John, Duke of Bedford, who planted 

 the far-famed and justly celebrated plantation called 

 the " Evergreens," in commemoration of his daughter's 

 marriage at Woburn Abbey, 1745. 



His Grace John, Duke op Montagu, planted very 

 extensively at Boughton, near Northampton. He was 

 called "John the Planter." It was principally elm 

 and lime trees he planted. Some of the avenues are 

 said to be forty miles in length. He is also reputed to 

 have projected the plan of planting an avenue of trees 

 all the way from Boughton to London, a distance of 



AV 



