180 Report of the JForest Commission. 



re-establish the old boundary lines of various townships in the 

 Adirondack forest. The surveyors have repeatedly cut blocks 

 out of line trees in which the old original " blaze "was grown 

 over with wood and hidden from sight ; but the number of tree 

 rings outside the original but concealed scar of the blaze mark 

 corresponded exactly with the number of years which had elapsed 

 since the time when the surveyors first ran the line. This curious 

 and interesting phenomenon has been observed so often in the 

 course of our work that it has ceased to attract attention as a 

 novelty. Many suits involving the title to or possession of land 

 have, been decided in courts on the evidence of some surveyor 

 who proved the date of an old survey by introducing as evidence 

 a block of wood cut from a line tree. 



In view of the general belief that the annular grains of tree 

 growth are coincident in number with the years of age, it is 

 interesting to note that this idea is strongly combated by some 

 careful observers. While we do not agree with the conclusions 

 in the following article, it is reproduced here as an interesting 

 contribution to the literature pertaining to this subject. The 

 article is reprinted from the Saw-Mill Gazette : 



Growth Rings on Trees. 

 Age said not to be indicated by them. 



" There is an old landmark on the DeLarm farm that is of considerable 

 interest. The farm is located on what is known as the ' high road' to DuBois 

 from Reynoldsville. The landmark, which is a notch in atree, locates a corner 

 of the DeLarm farm, which is in Jefferson county. The landmark also locates 

 the boundary line between Jefferson and Clearfield counties. When the 

 notch was cut Clearfield and Jefferson counties had not been organized, 

 and the line ran between two other counties. The line still remains, 

 though it does not now mark the boundary of either of the original counties. 

 The notch was cut into the tree in 1785, just 108 years ago. This fact 

 is proven by the rings in the tree that are visible and which number 108. 

 Sometimes parts of a tree containing a notch similar to this one, establishing 

 a corner, are taken into court and are accepted as evidence. The date, 

 designated by the number of rings, is also accepted." — Reynoldsville Volunteer, 

 Pa. 



" The above item is from a recent copy of a Pennsylvania journal, and serves to show how 

 tenaciously man clings to old fallacies. Of all silly notions this idea of rings being an indicator 

 of the age of trees seems to be most senseless, and yet, according to the above authority, the 

 rings of a tree are accepted as evidence in courts. 



If the determining of the age of a tree by the rings was one of those things that was 

 difficult to controvert, then tbere might be some excuse for depending upon them, but when 

 there are so many opportunities at hand to disprove the theory, to adhere to the fallacy is worse 

 than ignorance — it becomes a species of bigotry. 



