The Savannah morning news. (Savannah, Ga.) 1900-current, 1904-03-20
THE LIFE OF A TREE.
One Extending Over Twenty Gem
turies-Effects of Forest Fires.

tuFAeS-EHects or Forest Fires.
From the New York Tribune.
Washington, Feb. 17.-Senator Platt
of Connecticut has presented to Con-
gress a remarkable document, giving
the record of an American tree recent
ly cut up for lumber which had lived
for more than 1000 years and had
been successfully attacked by forest
fires exactly 1859. 1853 324 and 2O4 years
ago, these dates, at least one of them,
occurring before the beginning of the
Christian era, being more accurately
and unassailably fixed than many i'm
portant events in the past century.
This astonishing record is contained
in a letter to the Senator from Prof.
William Russell Dudley, vice president
of the American Forestry Association.
and head of the Department of Sys-
tematic Botany at Leland Stanford
University, in support of the move
ment to preserve the California big
trees. Prof. Dudley in 1900 visited the
mountain lumber camps to study the
trees and obtained the data by count
ing the concentric rings of growth on
the cross-sections of the felled trunks.
The oldest so examined had begun its
existence 525 B. c., and although Prof.
Dudley was satisfied that extended
scrutiny would bring to light a few
older trees, " does not expect to find
any over 5000 years old. He has re-
peatedly demonstrated that in the cli-
mate of the Pacific coast, with its
sharply marked wet and dry seasons.
there can be no question that each
annular ring of structure seen in cross
sections represents a years growth.
certainly in the Sequoia gigantea. But
Prof. Dudley's most interesting discov-
cry related to the remarkable recuper-
alive power, following an injury to
these big trees. He says:
The effects of certain tremendous
forest fires occurring centuries ago
were registered in the trunks of these
trees and the record completely con-
cealed by subsequent healthy growth.
Among q number of similar cases the
most instructive record of these an
cient forest fires was observed in a
tree of moderate size-about fifteen
feet in diameter-fve feet from the
2.171 years old.
This tree when felled had an enor-
nous surface burn on one side thirty
feet in hight and occupying eighteen
feet of the circumference of the tree;
this was found to have been due to a
fire occurring in A. D. 1897. The tree
when cut. in 1900, had already occu-
pied itself for 103 years in its efforts
to repair this injury, its method be-
s,aa ~ he
from each margin of the great black
wound. When the tree was cut the
records of three other fires were re-
vealed. The history of the tree was
as follows:
271 B. c. it began its existence.
The first year of the Christian era
it was about four feet in diameter
above the base.
245 A. D.. at Sic years of age, oc-
Cured a burning on the trunk three
feet wide. One hundred and five
years were occupied in covering this
wound with new tissue. For 1,196
years no further injuries were regis
tered.
1441 A. D., at LIP years of age, the
tree was burned a. second time in two
long grooves one and two feet wide,
respectively. Each had its own sys-
tenn of repair.
One hundred and thirty-nine years
of growth followed. including the time
occupied by covering the wounds.
1880 A. D., at 1851 years of age, oc-
CURED another fire, causing a burn on
the trunk two feet wide. which took
fifty-six years to cover with new It's
sue.
Two hundred and seventeen years of
growth followed this burn.
1897 A. D., when the tree was 2.06s
years old, a tremendous fire attacked
IL. burning the great scar eighteen feet