American Falls press. [volume] (American Falls, Idaho) 1907-1937, 1914-05-28

E<%&a O@NNy <"D NH6 1000
- leagues east of that city. The dis
turbances in Mexico have postponed
temporarily the attainment OF the SUI
preme ambition held by DR.. Herman Won Schrenk
of st Louis. which is to determine scientifically
the approximate age of this nestor of the whole
vegetable kingdom.
Experts, Judging by the gigantic bole Of the
Santa Maria del Tule cypress, and by the slow
growth Of this species, have estimated the age
Of the patriarch of all trees to be between 5000
and 5000 years.
These figures are staggering to the imagina-
ton. Taking the lowest computation, when the
seed from which the tree sprang fell upon the
earth King Menes was holding the first reign in
Egypt, Of which We have historic knowledge
3,OOO years before the birth of Christ. 1t was a
slender STRIPPING, 200 years old, when Cheops
drove his subjects with the lash to the labor of
building the great Pyramid. 1t had reached a
lusty youth of 1900 years when the Hebrews
made their exodus from the land of the Nile.
This living thing in tropical America was ST.
lently building itself to its present stature and
vigor seven centuries before Babylon reached its
greatest splendor. Ancient Nineveh, in the ninth
century before the Christian era, was a parvenu
compared with the Oaxaca cypress. The earliest
cuneiform inscriptions which psychologists have
unearthed in Assyria date back to only 1900 B. C.
and the tree in Mexico which was to arise In
the distant future on a new and unknown conti-
nent had even then lived almost as many years
as separate the world today from the final recall
vi bhC AOnd lCSAOAo AlOh -
This still fourishing tree of the twentieth CEN
fury had built it's annual rings and spread itSs
yearly foliage for ten centuries when Abrahanm
tended his hocks and saw a vision of the JEWISH
race that was to be. 1t had lived 1000 XsaIs
before David slew Goliath and Solomon erect9d~
the temple at Jerusalem. ~7
In the eye Of it's hoary antiquity, Troy. Athens,
the Macedonian kingdom and the Roman fnpire
were mere upstairs of time. The discovery Of
America and the conquest Of Mexico by Cortez
would seem, in its life, things OF only a few
months ago.
The last scientific measurement of the Santa
Maria del Tule cypress was made by DR.. Won
Schrenk in 1908, a century after Humboldt dis
covered it while on his famous tour of the equa-
torial America. DR.. Won Sch-enk found that
its trunk, four feet from the ground. had the
astounding girth of 126 feet.
An idea of its vast age may be obtained by
comparing it with a cypress described by Prof
Asa Gray, which. although only IA feet in cir
conference, was $40 years old. So slow is the
growth of the cypress that this tree had required
nearly seven centuries to attain a diameter Of
81 inches.
DR.. Won Schrenk. now an horticultural expert
with a laboratory at the Missouri botanical gar
den in st. Louis. was in 1903 connected with the
United States forestry service. While travelling
through southern Mexico he determined to In
spect the Santa Maria del Tule cypress. Arriving
at the village. he introduced himself as an official
Of the United States government who wished to
examine the famous tree. The mayor welcomed
him with elaborate ceremony.
DR.. Won Schrenk learned that the tree was
regarded as sacred in the vicinity and that 1t
was guarded night and day by two soldier sentt-
uels. Escorted by as numerous and dignihed a
retinue as the mayor could muster, he marched
to the nttIe graveyard in which the cypress
stands.
Before the broad and towering bulk OF this
one life. which has persisted without interruption
since the date OF the dawning of history, the visi-
tor halted in awe. Had the foliaged creature pos
sessed eyes and a tongue. what treasures Of In
formation could it have added to the annals OF
mani
But fights of fancy gave way to immediate sci
entihc duties. Authorities on trees had declared
the discovery of the approximate age OF this
cvpress 10 be one of the most important problems
J IN arboriculture. They had expressed q nope
that the next scientist who should visit the an
D cient living monument would not fail to complete
{ the evidence needed.
b The MAYOR of Santa Maria del Tule, however
? opposed a barrier Of adamant. Measure the cir
D conference of the tree? Surely. Photograph II!
indeed. yes. But to take an instrument and boro
rom the trunk a plug two feet deep and half an
inch In diameter? Horrors, no.
In vain DR.. Won Schrenk urged that this ex-
pertinent had been made hundreds OF times WITH
out damage to trees, and that by counting the
9 rings shown on the plug he could learn the trees
/ average rate of growth and thus solve one OF
: the great scientific problems of the world The
Z .navor was ALI humility and Inconsistencies Any