234 THAT 



ing brigade have encamped with 

 ease and comfort. It is believed 

 to be identical with that which 

 is mentioned in history by Near- 

 chus, in the time of Alexander 

 the Great, as being capable of 

 sheltering 10,000 men at once. 

 Portions of it have been carried 

 away by floods, but enough re- 

 mains to overshadow 7000 men. 

 Its principal trunk is more than 

 200 feet in girth, and its branches 

 are supported by 350 other 

 trunks which equal that of our 

 largest oaks, while the smaller 

 trunks are some 3000 more.* 



The longevity of trees is an 

 interesting study. While some 

 trees live only a few years, 

 rapidly attaining their growth, 

 and rapidly decaying — like the 

 peach-tree — others, on the con- 

 trary, have a longevity exceeding 

 the age of man ; and some species 

 outlive many generations. It is 

 well known that the age of trees 

 is correctly indicated by the num- 

 ber of wood circles, or rings, 

 found in the trunk— each ring 

 being the growth of a single 

 year. We here subjoin several 

 remarkable examples ascertained 

 by the above rule, or by tradition 

 and history, quoted from De 

 Candolle : — 



" An elm lived to the age of 

 335 years ; cypress (Eastern), 

 3 iO ; larch, 576 ; chestnut, about 

 600 ; orange, 630 ; olive, 700 ; 

 platanus orien talis, 720 ; cedar, 

 830 ; many tropical trees seen 

 by Humboldt, 1000 ; lime, 1076, 

 1147; oak, 810, 1080, 1500; 

 yap, 1214, 1458, 2588/2820; 

 taxodium, upwards of 4000 ; 



* Dictionary of Useful Knowledg-e. 



's it; 



and andansonia, of Senegal and 

 Cape Yerd Islands, 5000." 



The yew-trees of Britain are 

 of wonderful longevity. The 

 following list is quoted from 

 Professor Balfour: — 



"A yew at Fountain's Abbey, 

 Ripon, lived 1200 years; yews, 

 in the churchyard of Crowhurst, 

 Surrey, 1450 ; yew, at Fontigal, 

 Perthshire, 2500 to 2600 ; yew, 

 at Bradbourn Churchyard, Kent, 

 3000 ; and a yew, at Hedsor, 

 Bucks, twenty-seven feet in 

 diameter, 3200." 



We have now described a great many of those 

 sovereigns of the woods by whose beauty the 

 face of the earth is enriched, and by whose 

 utility mankind, and thousands of minor 

 creatures, are benefited. We have little time 

 to mention the various shrubs and parasitic 

 plants that are the attendants of trees in their 

 grand forest assemblage. Some of these,, 

 finding their way also in the hedgerows and 

 fields, will find mention as we proceed. We 

 must, however, say a few words of two interest- 

 ing parasitic plants, popularly known as the 

 mistletoe, and the ivy. 



The mistletoe reminds us of 

 those ancient days when our 

 Druidical forefathers assembled 

 in the depths of dense woods to 

 perform the ceremony of cutting 

 the mistletoe, 7. Upon the advent 

 of a new year, the original cus- 

 tom, practised as a religious rite, 

 began in the early part of De- 

 cember, by all ranks of the priest- 

 hood proceeding in grand and 

 solemn procession to cut and 

 gather the sacred and symbolical 

 mistletoe. The prophets marched 

 first, singing hymns in honour of 

 their several divinities, followed 

 by a herald with a caduceus, the 

 herald being succeeded by a body 

 of Druids, three abreast, bearing 

 the sacrificial implements, and, 

 last of all, the arch-Druid, or 

 high priest, with his attendant 



