14 
TIMBER AND TIMBER TREES. [chap. 
tapering or conical form (Fig. 6), and elongating them¬ 
selves year by year, so that a large proportion of those 
visible at the butt are traceable at the upper part of the 
stem. A given diameter of wood consequently contains 
many more layers at the top than at the butt end of 
the tree. 
The following table is given to show the number of 
concentric rings counted in the butt and top ends of 
four very fine English Elm trees :— 
Table I. 
No. 
Length. 
Calliper 
Measurement. 
Butt-end. 
Top-end. 
j Percentage of 
layers at top. 
Wood made 
per year. 
No. of layers to 
one inch. 
Diam. 
Annual 
layers. 
Diam. 
Annual 
layers. 
Butt. 
Top. 
Feet. 
Cub. ft. 
Inches. 
No. 
Inches. 
No. 
Cub. ft. 
I 
44 
158 
36 
89 
18 
56 
63 
178 
2-47 
3-10 
2 
41 
233 
36 
80 
l8 
74 
92 
2 - 90 
2* 20 
4'io 
3 
35 
170 
36 
66 
18 
62 
94 
2'57 
I-8 3 
3 "42 
4* 
49 
355 
48 
97 
l8 
85 
88 
3 -bb 
2 ‘02 
470 
From the examples here given, we find that about 
84 per cent, of the layers seen at the butt were trace¬ 
able at the part where the tree was topped off. We also 
see by the number of layers in one inch of wood at the 
top, as compared with the butt end, the approximate 
taper of the cones just referred to. 
It is very generally admitted that, in latitudes having 
the seasons clearly defined as they are in this country, 
each circle of lignine is completed in one year, but 
opinions differ as to this being the case in tropical 
climates, and there are botanists who consider that as 
* This tree, when cut at 25 feet from the butt, was found to have 
ninety-two layers at that point. 
