Report ox the Forest Commission. 181 



Just how the notch proves what is asserted is not made clear, as any cut into the side of 

 a healthy tree is sure to fill up by the outer growths after a series of years, but somewhere the 

 authority for the statement found 108 rings, and forsooth the notch was cut 108 years ago; logic, 

 and as a matter of course, "ahorse chestnut must be a chestnut horse." 



Had a section from an opposite side of the tree been cut there would have been found, with- 

 out doubt, another number of rings, either less or more, or had the count been several feet 

 above the notch the number would have been less, or below it a short distance there would 

 have been found a greater number. 



If the believers in the rings are to tell us the age of a tree thereby, tbey must settle just at 

 what point the count is to be made for beginning at the ground and going upwards, it is found 

 that the number of rings grows less as you ascend. This must be so from the natural course 

 of things, as new shoots put out from the top and continue the upward growth of the tree 

 every year. We can see no way out unless we make our count at the ground, but here even we 

 encounter another difficulty, and one that is serious, if the tree should be one that has grown 

 where one side is fully exposed to the sun and the other shaded. In that case, counting from 

 the heart, it will be found that on the exposed side of the tree the number of rings is greatly 

 in excess of the number on the shaded side. 



A notable case is called to mind of a second-growth white ash that grew in a hedge on the 

 south side of a fence. This tree showed forty clearly defined rings upon the south side of the 

 heart, and, by a liberal allowance, after examining with a magnifying glass, thirty was the 

 most that could be defined on the north side, so that it was just as easy to prove the tree thirty 

 as it was to prove it forty years old . The same butt was cut off eight feet above the cutting 

 kerf, and the number of rings had been reduced to twenty and sixteen. Curiosity led to a fur- 

 ther examination and the stump was cut close to the ground, where no difficulty was experi- 

 enced in counting sixty and forty -five rings, respectively. 



A further proof was furnished by the recorded facts of the fence having been erected on that 

 line thirty five years before, as a boundary line between the estates of two brothers, being a 

 part of a plot that was divided up between heirs, and the tree grew after the fence was built. 

 Of course, such a case would cot count against the prejudice of ages, but it becomes a stub- 

 born fact, nevertheless. 



Let anyone plant a number of seed — apple, peach or plum, something that grows quickly — 

 care for the sprouts, and after three or four years cut them and count the growth-rings and 

 thus satisfy himself. It is doubtful if two out of a dozen will contain the same number of 

 rings, or if anyone will show a number corresponding with the age The thriftier the shoot 

 the greater the number of rings, and the more stunted and weak the specimen the less the 

 number, and yet all may be of the same age and grown under similar conditions. 



All roots, those used for food as well as those ihat are not, are of a woody nature, and where 

 the circumstances are unfavorable the least thrifty of the edible snow a fibrous, woody compo- 

 sition, and at times some are found that can not be cooked to make them fit for food In all 

 the growth rings are defined, but in none so clearly as in the beet. Not only does it show the 

 rings, but it shows the porous state and medullary rays as well. These rings neither indicate 

 days, months, moons or other time divisions. On a tender, thrifty root there may be a dozen 

 or more rings, while a less thrifty one grown at its side may not show half that number. What 

 will our seer tell us regarding the ages of these beets ? 



Leaving all other tests aside, there is a law of nature that upsets all this annular ring growth 

 theory. Everything has its growing, ripening and decaying season. The tree, like the straw of 

 wheat, grows to its full, ripens and then dies A tree may be vigorous and put on wood, or, in 

 other words, grow for one hundred years, but that hundred years does not mark its life; for 

 fifty or even a hundred more years the life sap may be sufficient to nourish and maintain the 

 growth already made, but not enough to put on new wood, and another fifty or hundred years 

 may pass, during which no new growth is made, and during which the vital fluid is sufficient to 

 maintain the tree in full vigor, during which it slowly but surely dies. Here may be three 

 hundred years of life, and yet, during two hundred years, not an ounce of new wood has been 

 added, and yet, in face of all, men will assert that they can determine the age of a tree by its 

 rings. 



What, then, are these rings and what do they determine ? The common-sense answer is, they 

 are growth rings — nothing more. One may be the result of a year, a month or a week or any 

 other division of time; all depends upon circumstances. If an entire summer has been moist 



