Why did this Tree Die ? 



557 



handle of an old-fashioned Toby jug. It is very difficult to 

 suggest any explanation as to what caused the coalescence to 

 occur, for the branches do not appear to have been crossed. 

 Probably it took place when the tree was young, and the 

 branches concerned have since much increased in girth. 



WHY DID THIS TREE DIE ? 



We invite our readers to put this question whenever they 

 encounter a dead or moribund tree. They will find the 

 investigation one of very considerable interest and difficulty. 

 Why should any tree ever have its normal span of life 

 shortened ? Why, indeed, should that span have its limita- 

 tions. A tree has no brain, and is not, therefore, liable to 

 apoplexy ; it has no windpipe, and cannot have croup ; no 

 heart, and is therefore not liable to valvular disease or hyper- 

 trophy, nor do we suppose that trees are prone to catch any 

 maladies analogous to typhoid, cholera or small-pox. Trees 

 cannot indulge in intemperance, either of eating or drinking, 

 nor, since they have no nerves, can they catch cold or have 

 their functions deranged by shock or over-anxiety. With 

 such extensive immunities from the many influences which 

 render the life of animals at all times precarious, it may 

 almost excite wonder that trees should ever die. The truth 

 is that, as compared with animals, they but rarely do die, and 

 when mortality does happen to them it is, for the most part, 

 in infancy. In very early life, when its whole organism is 

 concentrated in a slender stem, a delicate rootlet and a few 

 leaves, it is easy to conceive that its career may be cut short 

 by a worm at the root, a caterpillar or a fungus on its foliage, 

 or a few weeks' frost or drought. After it has attained its 

 growth such influences would be powerless in their triviality. 

 We will confine our attention for the present to what may be 

 called the premature death of trees, and will leave for another 

 occasion any detail as to their death from senility. 



