Vermont phÅ“nix. [volume] (Brattleboro, Vt.) 1834-1955, 1907-11-08
NATURES WEATHER RECORD.
How She Keeps Her Tally on the Trees,
Year by Year, Of Drought and Cold and
Heat

How She Keeps Her Tally on the Trees,
Year by Year, Of Drought and Cold and
Heat.
Government Forest Service Bulletin.1
Mother Nature uses the tree trunk to
keep her record of weather of the passing
years and the officers Of the Forest Ser
vice In Washington say that the severe
drought from which the forests of New
England and the middle Atlantic states
have suffered the past summer has left
its mark upon growing timber which will
remain for many decades
Trees, II seems preserve for their entire
life the evidence Of unusual weather con-
ditions Of certain kinds. They do this by
the effect which these conditions nave
upon the making of wood substance.
Wood Is laid on a tree in concentric
rings, one ring for each year, and It is
the appearance OF these rings which fur
nishes to the trained eye a kind of
chart prepared by nature, from which
may be read something of the history Of
the past.
Trees suffer less from drought than
most plants, because their roots 20 deep
er. Nevertheless, a severe drought like
that of the present season checks their
growth. Naturally. those on thin or
naturally dry soils suffer most. And Just
as in a human society which is famine
stricken, the feebler members succumb
first. severe drought may be followed
by the death Of many trees.
In some parts OF the Northeast there
was no rainfall OF consequence for more
than two months OF the hottest part of
the summer No woodcraft was needed
to see the results. On thin soiled hills
and ridges of good natural drainage the
leaves Of the underbrush hung limp,
lacking the moisture which could no
longer be pumped up from the roots,
instead of spreading their surfaces to the
light In crowded stands the weaker
trees, already struggling hard to keep
their place in unequal competition with
their overlapping neighbors, began to
drop their foliage and shut down for
the season. And though the best trees,
or those fortunat ely placed where mois-
ture was less deficient, gave perhaps no
outward sign of distress, impaired acti-
witty must have been very general. In
other words, the wood crop grown this
last year has suffered an appreciable
shortage, though since 1t will be harves-
ted along with that actually grown dur
ing many years the owner may never APP
preciate the difference. The result is
merely that where the drought was felt
by the timber each tree has little small
Ter trunk than better conditions would
have given It.
German foresters say that a severe
winter Is followed by ieSSened diameter
growth during the following season II
this is true the annual ring for the
present year will he small because OF the
unusual cold last winter as well as from
the effects Of drought. Just why excep-
tionally low winter temperatures should
reduce the subsequent growth It is hard
to see. II. however. the cold is protrac-
ted into the spring so as to shorten the
growing season the connection is OBJ
vlous. Late frosts, which nip the open
ing buds or young leaves and thus check
the growth just as It Is starting into full
activity, may cause serious damage to
forests.
In various parts of the East last spring
observing persons noted that the button
wood leaves seemed to suffer sudden
blight just after they had spread their
tender green to. the air. They were
frosted New leaves came out after two
or three weeks. but such checks try the
hardness of the tree. Some kinds are
much more susceptible than others and
sometimes their susceptibility is an i'm
portant factor in fixing the limits within
which a tree can hold its place in The
forest
Single specimens OF the longest lived
trees, both European and American. are
known to have reached an age OF from
1000 to 1000 years. while some of the
giant sequoias OF California have lived
for 5000 years or more. II is curious to
think that the forester can discover, by
studying the annual rings Of these giant
veterans, something of the weather con-
ditions which obtained before the Chris
tian era began.