. American forestry. Forests and forestry. THE TREE OF LEGEND AND ROMANCE 79 lieiit-ath their spreading branches remind one of nothing .more than the bones of some prehistoric monster. They .are unusually tough and hard, and apjjcar to have been bleached b)- centuries of weather. The under portions •of the live branches are a russet gold in color, and give •one the impression of having rusted through the action ? of the sea's mists. Their twisted branches are silver- gray and bare, and become a tangled mass at the top, the under side of which is black and moss-covered, bringing is the most las
. American forestry. Forests and forestry. THE TREE OF LEGEND AND ROMANCE 79 lieiit-ath their spreading branches remind one of nothing .more than the bones of some prehistoric monster. They .are unusually tough and hard, and apjjcar to have been bleached b)- centuries of weather. The under portions •of the live branches are a russet gold in color, and give •one the impression of having rusted through the action ? of the sea's mists. Their twisted branches are silver- gray and bare, and become a tangled mass at the top, the under side of which is black and moss-covered, bringing is the most lasting of all wood. The ancients engraved their laws upon cypress, which, coupled with the possi- bility of their having used the same material in the man- ufacture of clubs, might explain why these laws and the order in which they were drawn to enforce remained intact for so long a time. A statue of Jupiter was carved in cypress and stood without decay for 600 years, which is considerably longer, and is still in a better condition of preservation than the memory of him whose image it is. So there is considerable foundation for the conten- tion that the great age of these dead trees cannot be disproved through the theory that thiey would have decayed and disintegrated in the length of time they are. .Pltotograph by Mark Daniels. A GNARLED AND TWISTED PATRIARCH OF THE CYPRESS GROVE Strangely enough many of the branches of the more wind-swept trees grow straight out in the direction of the prevailing winds. They are bare and as stiff as steel springs, thrusting their sharp points in the teeth of the gale as if to hurl defiance at the elements. into vivid contrast the brilliant green of the upper surface ? of the top. It would appear to be a simple matter to • count the rings on one of the fallen trees and thereby •determine the age, even though these rings are so close and fine as to make the task an extremely difficult one. This has been done in one instance, and the age o
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Keywords: ., bookcentury1900, bookdecade1910, booksubjectforestsandforestry
