Daily Kennebec journal., 1913-05-05

| ninth century before the Christian era,
| was n parveru compared with the
| 0axaca cypress. The earliest cuneiforn
| Inscriptions which archeolngists have
| nnoarthed N Assyria date back to only
| 1899 y. E. ana the tree in aiexico, which
| vas to he found in the distant future
oH Il now ail unSaov'n continent. had
even then lived almost as many years
;s separate thu world today from the
final recall of the Roman legions from
/ britain.
This still hourishins tree of the twen-
tieth century had built its annual rings
| and spread its yearly foliage for 10
| eenturits when Abraham tended his
iiocks and saw a vision Of the Jewish
| race that WAS to be. 1t had lived 1000
| years before David slew Goliath and
Solomon erected the temple at Jerusa-
| lem.
In the eye of it's hoary antiquity
| Troy, Athens, the Macedonian King
| com and the Roman Empire were mere
| mere upstarts of time The discovery
| of America and the conquest of Mexi-
| co by Cortez would seem in it's life the
things of only few months ago
| The last scientific measurements of
| the Santa Maria del Tule cypress was
made by DR.. Won Schrenk in 1903, a
century after Humboldt discovered it
while ON his famous tour of equatorial
| America. Dr. Won Schrenk found that
| its trunk, four feet from the ground,
had the astounding girth of 126 feet
| An idea of its vast age may be OBJ
tanned by comparing it with cypress
| described by Prof. Asa Gray. which al
| though only IA feet in circumference,
was 60 years old SO slow is the
| growth OF the cypress that this tree
| had required nearly seven centuries TO
attain diameter of 81 inches.
| DR.. Won Scbrenk, now an arboricul-
tarai expert. with laboratory at the
| Missouri botanical garden in st. Louis.
VAS IN 1903 connected with the United
| States Forestry Service. While travel
ling through Southern Mexico he deter
mined to inspect the santa Maria del
Tula cypress Arriving at the village,
| he Introduced himself as an official of
| the United States Government who
wished to examine the famous tree.
| Tho Mayor welcomed him with elab-
1 crate ceremony.
1 Dr. Won Schrank learned that the
tree was regarded as sacred in the VI
! cinity and that it was guarded night
| and day by two. soldier sentineis. Es-
corted by as numerous and dignifed
retinue as the Mayor could muster. he
| marched to the little graveyard In
| which the cypress stands.
Before the broad and towering buik
! of this one life. which has persisted
,yithou. interruption since the date of
the dawning of history, the visitor
| halted i'm awe. Had the foliage crea-
| tnre possessed eyes and tongue what
| treasures of informa tion could 1t have
| adaed to the annals of man. What rev
| oinntions in Mexico 1t could have re-
lated what rises and falls OF mon-
arehies and civilizations in tropical
| America.
Rut flights of fancy gave way to inn
/ mediate scientific duties. Authorities
an trees had declared the discovery OK
the approximate age of this cypress TO
Ihe one of the most important problems
! in arboriculture. They had expressed
n hone that the next scientist who
lshauld visit the ancient living monu-
mont would not fail to complete the
levidence needed.
| The Mayor of Santa Maria del Iuie,
however. opposed barrier OF ada
/ mant. Measure the circumference OF
the tree? Surely Photograph IL? IN
daea YES. But to take an instrument
and bore from the trunk plug two
! feet and half an inch in diameter!
Horrors! No!
In vain DIR. Won Schrenk urged that
this experiment had been made hum
Idreds of times without damage 10
4 trees. and that by counting the rings
! shown ON the plug he could learn the
trees average rate OF growth ana
thus solve one of the great scientinc
nrob,ems of the world. The Mayor
Twas all humality and submissiveness.
! ANYTHING he possessed was at the dis
posal of the ditinguished United States
officiiaI But touch the tree he wouia
not.
1 So DR.. Won Schrenk was compelled 70
content himself with measuring the
Ibo,e and with taking photographs OF
the tree from the roof OF the City han.
Though repulsed a, this first trial.
DIR. Won Schrenix's ardor to be the first
TO obtain accurate data by which to es-
innate the trees age has been kindled
Ionly the more. He has determined tnat
lat the first opportunity he will return
Ito Santa Maria del TUE for secohH
lattempt. when he hopes 10 md May
or of more scientific sympathy.
| Prof Alphone de Candolle, an illus
ltrious bctanist. calculated tnat the
ISanta Maria del Tule cypress mignt De
900 years old. Prof Asa Gray undef
lone computation, estimated that ~
! might be 5.124 years old, and named =
/ ethe Nesf6r of the cypress race, y not
of the whole vegetable Kingdom
Hoth these computations would MAKE
1.-The Mexican cypress older by from
III 900 to 1000 years than the giant Sc
souoIa tree of California, in the boie '0f
which John Muir, the famous geoiogist
and archelogist. counted more than -
900 rings. The sequoias. however. be-
ing trees of more rapid growth, great
" surpass the cypress in height.-New
York Tribune.