The Republican journal., 1907-10-03
Nature Keeps Record OF Weather 0
Trees.

WASHINGTON, Sept. 80. Mother
Nature uses the tree trunk to keep her
record of weather of the passing years
and officers of the Forest Service here
say that the severe drought from which
the forests of New England and the
middle Atlantic States have been suf-
fering this summer has left its mark
upon growing timber which will remain
for many decades.
Trees, it seems, preserve for their
entire life the evidence of unusual
weather conditions of certain kinds
They do this by the effect which these
conditions have 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 furnishes to the
trained eye kind of chart prepared by
nature, from which may be read some
thing of the history of the past.
Trees suffer less from drought than
most plants, because their roots go
deeper. 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
SuCCumU uISt. ~ Sefclc uIOuSuC uldy
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
thin soiled hills and ridges of good nat
ural drainage the leaves of the under
brush hung limp, lacking the moisture
WI no q
from the roots, instead of spreading
their surfaces to the light. In crowded
stands the weaker trees, already strug-
CLING hard to keep their place in une-
quail competition with their overtop-
ping neighbors, began to drop their fol
iage and shut down for the season.
And though the best trees, or those
fortunately placed where moisture was
less deficient, gave perhaps no outward
sign of distress, impaired activity must
have been very general. In other
words, the wood crop grown this last
year has suffered an appreciate short
age, though since it will be harvested
along with that actually grown during
many years the owner may never APP
preciate the difference. The result is
merely that where the drought was felt
by she timber each tree has a little
smaller trunk than better conditions
would have given it.
German foresters say that a severe
winter is followed by lessened diameter
growth during the following season. If
this is true the annual ring for the
present year will be small because of
the unusual cold last winter as we'll as
from the effects of drought. Just why
exceptionally low winter temperatures
should reduce the subsequent growth
it is hard to see. If, however, the cold
is protracted into the spring so as to
shorten the growing season the connec-
ton is obvious. Late frosts, which nip
the opening buds or young leaves and
thus check the growth just as it is start
ing into full activity, may cause serious
damage to forests.
In various parts of the east last
spring observing persons noted that the
buttonwood leaves seemed to suffer a
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 this suscep-
tibility is an important factor in fixing
the limits which a tree can hold it's
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 se1uoias of California have
lived for 5000 years or more. 1t is
curious to think that the forester can
discover, by studying the annual rings
of these giant veterans, something of
the weather conditions which obtained
before the Christian era began.