Tree-Ring Bulletin, Volume 13, Issue 1 (July 1946)

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Journal Tree-Ring Bulletin

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Link to Item http://hdl.handle.net/10150/262949 TREE-RING BULLETIN

VOL. 13 JULY, 1946

A Quarterly

CONTENTS Hemlock Chronology in New England CHARLES J. LYON Sequoia Survey -III: Miscellaneous Notes A. E. DOUGLASS

PUBLISHED BY THE TREE -RING SOCIETY with the cooperation of THE LABORATORY OF TREE -RING RESEARCH UNIVERSITY OF ARIZONA 2 TREE -RING BULLETIN VOL. 13, NO. 1 Annual Subscription, $1.50 Single Copy, 50e THE TREE -RING BULLETIN THE TREE -RING SOCIETY Editor -in -chief Dr. A. E. Douglass Dr. A. E. Douglass Managing Editor..Dr. Edmund Schulman Associate Editors: Secretary Mr. Harry T. Getty Arctic Studies.._.Mr. J. L. Giddings, Jr. Tree -Ring Laboratory Botany Dr. Charles J. Lyon University of Arizona Archaeology___.Mr. W. S. Stallings, Jr. Tucson, Arizona

HEMLOCK CHRONOLOGY IN NEW ENGLAND CHARLES J. LYON* The rings of the eastern hemlock (Tsuga canadensis (L.) Carr.) have now been measured at sufficiently widespread sitesinNew England to permit consideration of the extent to which crossdating is possible across this area. Except for the state of Maine, as yet untouchea by the work, the region is only about 150 miles from east to west and 250 miles from north to south. Compared with the Pacific Coast where fair crossdating has been found for airline distances up to over 700 miles, and Scandinavia with some persistence up to 600 miles, New England would seem to be small enough to allow crossdating in old trees or timbers of a single species within itsborders. Although hemlock has been cut extensively for lumber ever since Colon- ial days, trees with over 100 rings can be found easily in all sections and virgin growth is commonly over 300 years old. Due to lack of circuit uni- formity, all measurements must be based on more than one radius. This means complete sections of the trunk; these, however, are rarely available except from trees cut for timber. Selection of trees for analysis has there- fore been very limited. Most workers have sought an index of the annual growth rate at the site rather than the best data for chronology of a par- ticular area. Some exceptions to this were possible in the wake of the 1938 hurricane that swept in an arc through Boston northward into New Hamp- shire. Since hemlock has been found particularly reliable for crossdating work, it is possible that careful selection of trees is not essential. For the ordinary problems of archeology, it is rather desirable to have a dated chronology from trees that grow in the same general forest situations from which the problem timbers come. Since these forests are often on low ground, unfit for cultivated fields, it is advisable to test the results of measurements from such sites along with those from upland forests. Certainly the hem- lock timbers of old structures were not selected originally, and little choice is offered now in dating them except to use several timbers rather than depend on the one with the most rings, for example. The areas for the available data on hemlock ring measurements in New England, only part of which have been printed, may be described briefly as follows: 1. New Hampshire (and adjoining towns in Vermont). a. Five sites in a belt across the mid -latitudes of the state,sampled and measured by Lyon, with data from a sixth site supplied by Douglass. Reported by Lyon in Ecology 17: 457 -478, 1936. b. Mixed forest at an elevation of 2000 feet in Northern New Hamp- shire (town of Cambridge) .Unpublished data from one excellent tree about 400 years old, obtained by Lyon in 1945 from section supplied by the N. H. Department of Forestry and Recreation. c. Pisgah Forest in the southwestern corner of the state(town of Ashuelot) . Virgin growth on high ground, felled by the hurricane. Four trees over 200 years old, sectioned and measured by Lyon in 1941, with assistance at the site from Stephen Spurr of the Harvard School of Forestry. *Department of Botany, Dartmouth College, Hanover, New Hampshire. JULY, 1946 TREE -RING BULLETIN 3

Table 1. Dates of Minima in Hemlock Growth. ( )=faint boldface pronounced

New Boston So. West No. West New LondonNo. East Northern Hamp. Area New. Hamp. Conn. Conn. Conn. Penn. (4 trees) (2 trees) (Avery) (4 trees) (Meyer)

1705 1704 -05 1706 -07 1705, 1711 1716 -17 1716 1715 -16 1720 (1721) 1723 1723 1723 1723 1728 1728 1729

1731 1733 1736 1736 (1736), 1738 1741 1739 -40 1741 (1740) 1743 1743 1742 1748 -49 1748 -49 1748 -49 1747 1754 -55 (1755) 1755 1754 1758 1756 1762 1762 1760 (1759) 1767 ( -68) (1768) 1766 1767 1770 1770 1771 1775 (1775) 1774 1779 -80 1778 1777 (1779) (1777) 1784 1780 1784 1786 -87 1786 1793 1792 1792=t1 (1791) 1793 1798 -99 1798 1798 1795 1799 -00 (1800) 1800=L1 1800 1804 1804 1804 1805 1806 1806 1806 (1806) 1810 1811 1810 -11

1820 -21 1818 1820 (1819) 1819 1816 1821 1826 1826 1825 -26 1826 1826 1824 -25 (1827) 1829 1829 1829 1829 1829 -30 (1830) 1832 (1832) 1832 1836 (1836) (1836) 1834 -35

1838 1837 -38 1837 1838 (1838 -39) 1838 1841 1841 1841 (1840) 1840 1843 1843 1843 1843 (1846) (1846) 1845 1849 -50 1849 1850 1849 1849 -50 1852 (1852)

1853 -54 (1854) (1853) (1855) 1855 -56 1855 1854 1856 1856 1857 1856 1859 (1859) 1858 1859 1862 1864 1864 1862 -63 1864 1863 1863 1866 1866 1867 (1866 -67) 1866 1869 1870 (1869) 1870 1873 1873 (1873) 1871 -73 1873 1872 1874 1877 (1876 -77) 1879 1877 1876 1877 1878, 1880 1883 (1883) 1883 1883 (1882) 1885 1885 (1885) 1886

1890 1888 1888 1890 (1888) 1889 1893 (1893) 1892 -93 1895 -96 1895 -96 1895 -96 1895 -96 1895 -96 1895 1896 -97 1899 -00 1899 1900 1899 1899 -00 1901, 04(1900), 1905 1911 1911 1911 1911 1912

1914 . 1914 1914 1914 1913 1915 1918 1918 1919 1920 1920 1919 -20 1920 1920 1921 1923 (1923) 1923 1924 (1924) (1923 -24)(1925) 1926 (1926) (1926) 1926 (1926) 1927

(1929) 1932 1932 1930 1932 1934 1934 1937 1934 1935 4 TREE -RING BULLETIN VOL. 13, NO. 1

2. Boston district. Four upland forest sites in eastern Massachusetts as reported by Lyon in Ecology 24: 329 -344, 1943. Several trees selected from hurricane throw at each site. 3.Connecticut sites. a. Yale Forest at Union, in northeastern section of state, as described by Lutz in Tree -Ring Bull. 10: 26 -28, 1944. Data based on four trees that grew in a swamp forest. b. Ledge and ravine near New London (southern shore of state) , as described by Avery, Creighton and Hock in Amer. Jour. Bot. 27: 825 -831, 1940. Fifteen trees sectioned, all over 100 years old. c. Mohawk Forest in northwestern corner of state(town of Corn- wall) . Two old trees from low ground, measured in 1941 by Lyon from sections cut by Dr. Raymond Kienholz, State Forester. In addition, it was of interest to compare the hemlock chronology of these New England forests with the data supplied by Meyer (Tree -Ring Bull. 7: 20 -23, 1941) from virgin stands of hemlock in northern Pennsylvania. The airline distance of this site is approximately 300 miles from the nearest site sampled in Connecticut. In accord with common usage, the possible similarity in the response of hemlock growth to climatic factors was sought in the years in which minima of ring growth were found. These are shown in the seven columns of the table, with the minima rated as faint (year in parentheses), average (un- marked date) and pronounced (in boldface) ) . Among the six New England areas represented, the agreement is, on the whole, uncertain and variable. Many years are repeated across the table but only a few years, like 1806, 1829, 1843, 1883, 1895, 1920, and 1926, appear in most of the first six columns. Allowing for individual drouth years at each area, the first three columns show a fair agreement between sites in New Hampshire and the Boston district, with the trees of the forest in southwest New Hampshire differing most from the others. The likeness among the three groups of Connecticut trees is nobetter, with the swamp trees of the northeast corner giving the most disagreement. Thelack of agreement between the New London site and other places can be under- stood on the basis of its nearness to the ocean. It is ratherprobable that measurements from upland trees in the interior of the state will give data more in harmony with those of theNew Hampshire and Boston areas. Failing this, they should at least provide considerable crossdatingbetween the interior sections of Connecticut and Massachusetts.Hemlocks in the western half of the latter state have not yet been usedfor tree -ring studies although the species is common there. On the basis of information now available and in view of thediscrep- ancies shown by considerable work in the general longitudeof the Boston area, for any problem of datinghemlock timbers in the New England area it will be advisable and probably necessary to establish a local chronology, preferably within 50 miles of the site. Even then an undated sequence of less than 100 rings cannot be placed with any confidence. For a long run, of years, dependence is to be placed on the matching of some strong, widely - spaced minima. Between them will occur many inconsistencies; some of the minima will miss agreement by one year. For any two sequencesthat actually do crossdate, each will also show some other years of minimum growth increments not represented in the other. This can be permitted, provided one does not show a maximum growth in the same year that a minimum growth was recorded in the other. Of the crossdating possibilities between New England andPennsylvania, little need be said. With a few exceptions, narrow rings inPennsylvania come either a year later or a yearearlier than a drouth effect is registered in New England. JULY, 1946 TREE -RING BULLETIN 5 SEQUOIA SURVEY -III: MISCELLANEOUS NOTES A. E. DOUGLASS The Age of the Tree and Other Very Old Trees. There has been rivalry as to the age of several very magnificent trees: The Gen- eral Sherman in Sequoia National Park, the in the General Grant National Park, now part of Sequoia National' Park, and the Boole Tree on a high ridge east of Converse Basin and north of Indian Basin. In the trip in 1935 enough time was spent in the Sequoia National Park to make borings as follows in the General Sherman Tree by courtesy of Colonel John R. White, the Superintendent of the Park: SP -2 -In middle of big burnt place on NE side; outer part watery and broken. 2A -1.5 feet left and below No. 2. 2B -NW side in white wood; worthless. 2C -N side, into bark; wood was not reached; bark fell to pieces and was not preserved. 2D -In black hole on SE side. 2E -NE side, as in 2 and 2A; about 15 feet above ground in big burnt place. Thus, of the five borings that were obtained, Nos. 2 and 2E gave readable results. No. 2 was dated from 1430 -1635, No. 2E from 1500 -1730. The mean ring size was 0.81 mm; the records were very complacent. These are ring sizes which, in relation to the total size of the tree and the probable rate at which rings increase in size toward the center, supplied an estimate of the age of the tree of 3500 years plus or minus 500 years. The writer became familiar with the sites of the General Sherman and the General Grant trees. The size of the General Grant was reported to be a little less than that of the General Sherman and neither of them has any ravine near which would carry water. The General Grant's size might make it a bit younger. The ravine at the site of the Boole Tree is reported to be dry and very steep, and the tree is reported to be nearly the same in size as the General Sherman. It seems to belong to the same age group and, if reports are cor- rect, it might be the oldest of the three. Sequoia Trees of Historic Interest. The Centennial Stump at Enterprise (I: 52 and Plate 7B) is on the road a quarter mile west of the Enterprise Mill Site, near a brook. It was cut in 1874. My guide, Mr. Chas. A. Elster of Springville, worked on this very job as a youth. The tree was cut off some 30 feet up; then men with axes hollowed it out from the top. This left a high center at the present stump top (which made our 12 -foot radial cut a very difficult one to extract) . Vertical saw cuts were then made at intervals about the circuit and the intervening slabs were lowered and shipped to Philadelphia for exhibit.I visited this Enterprise Stump in 1918, 1925 and 1931; it is covered with initials and visiting cards. The General Grant Park Centennial Tree was shown to me as the burnt remnant of a stump that carried that name.. The World's Fair Stump (1: 51 and Plate 6B) is in the Converse Hoist area, perhaps a hundred and fifty yards in a southerly direction from D -21 in the basin bottom. Stump D -21 has the number on it and a square cut across its top where my specimen had been sawed out (the square cut was made by Mr. N. E. Beckwith, a civil engineer from Los Altos, ) . The World's Fair Stump is some 25 feet high and was impossible to climb in all my visits.I walked up hill and looked at its top with field glasses. It has grooves on top showing that its rings were counted by Huntington. The Dance Hall Stump at Calaveras Grove (II: 53, 90) was, I suppose, the first sequoia to be cut down (1853). This was done by great auger holes coming inonoppositesidesThe buttlog wasstilllyingnear on my visit in1924. The stump top was smoothed off,walls and roof were put on, and this structure used as a dance hall. In 1865 the rings were marked on a long strip of paper extended from center to outside, and REDWOOD BASIN (CAMP 6) ö T /33 R 29E 517 Scale :4 inches e I mola

o 2

29 Dieo

CONVERSE BASIN ARA T 135 R 27E S /3 R 28E S/8 Scale 4 inches = / mole

/i roCherryGapon K,nysR N' y

ENTERPRISE MILL8611 AREA N T/95 R 30 E S 26 Scide 8 inches a lmile \k1Sd Rond

\Mt. Moses )5 ,04' N4--C/eannya{' / \_Md1 50-te i 22 -A N i 0

I 37 i ( (068 ,wi .5, Ie,r d319,0 \ __P/ LI- - - -0040 ./

Fig. 2.The BooleTree.Di- ameter 35 feet at base.

R 30E S 36 T /95 4-7 0 CaI,PormaTree

Fig. 1.Maps showing the locations of 41 of the numbered trees from which radial specimens were taken for our collections. No. 5 (Camp 6) is about 220 yards WSW of the section center; no. 32 (Converse) is about 100 yards N of the section -center latitude; no. 47 (Enterprise) is about 200 yards E of the section -center longitude. Reproduced from surveys in October, 1937, by the U. S. Forest Service, to whom most cordial thanks are given. JULY, 1946 TREE -RING BULLETIN 7

a..

Photos by A. E. Douglass. Fig. 3.The General Grant Tree. Fig. 5.The Dance Hall at Calaveras Grove (left) and the butt log showing auger holes by which the Dance Hall Tree was cut in A. D. 1853. Fig. 4.A young sequoia, near D -35, Fig. 6.World's Fair Stump. This tree photographed in 1919. was cut for exhibit in the Chi - cago Exposition of 1893. 8 TREE -RING BULLETIN VOL. 13, NO. 1 I have a tracing made from that by Marsdon Manson, well -known engineer. The ring system is complacent and showed some 1244 rings in the 13 ft. 1 inch of the tracing. Taper Study. Thiswas made on E -7, a windfall tree at Enterprise Mill, blown down in 1901(date checked by C. A. Elster) : Section Apx. Height,Diameter Remarks feet feet 1 0 15 2 20 11 Bark 4 -16 inches 3 40 101/3 Lower side crushed; bark 6 -10 inches 4 60 101/2 No branches; bark 3 inches thick 5 80 91 /z Clear, no branches 6 100 91/3 No branches 7 120 9.2 Two 8 -inch branches 8 140 91/3 Two or three 12 -inch branches 9 160 91/2 Four or five big branches 10 180 7 11 200 9 Three or four branches 12 220 8 Three big branch nodes 13 240 61/2 Three branch nodes; one 3 -foot branch 14 255 21/2 (Estimate) ; six or eight branches 15 261 Top; upper six feet was long dead Fallen Trees and Duration of Parts. Some special studies have been made of fallen trees. In earlier days it was hoped to extend our ring se- quences into greater antiquity by the use of fallen trees which in some way had been preserved for centuries.We found no gain whatever in rings near Flagstaff, recorded as "burntcenters." Among the big sequoias (I: 50- 51), the rings of D -20 showed that this tree was blown down about six years before lumbering in that area.D -17, west of Camp 7, was cut from a fallen log. The outer thousand years wereunreadable. In the Calaveras Grove the fallen trees offered the only possibility of getting long sequences in that locality (II: 19 -21) .In the case of CV -3; al- lowing about 100 years for the sapwood growth, the tree probably fell about 125 years before my study of it, and in that time the bark had been lost and all of the sapwood and most of the central part of the tree. The part most resistant to decay is the outer half- radius of the heartwood; that alone remained (II: 20 and Plate 2) . The persistence of the sapwood on a fallen tree was determined from CV -4, whose date of falling was easily learned from the rings as 1864. This date was verified by tradition. The sapwood had decayed almost com- pletely and fallen away. Thus the time in which that took place was 60 years. These durations of bark andsapwood are probably below the aver- age because this is the farthest north bf the sequoia grovesand has heavier rainfall than the more southerly groves, but it shows that the duration of the wood is not indefinite. Uniformity Problems. Circuit uniformity near the base of the tree is good if it is above the great bulges. In the early years of lumbering the cutting was often done rather high in the tree and the V -cutsfrom those stumps escape this deformity. But even in lateryears the top of a stump, and there- fore the V -cut, is commonly above the bulge at the base of the tree. Vertical uniformity was tested on E -7 above mentioned (see II: 26 and Plate 4A) .Borings in this tree about every twenty feet of elevation above the roots showed that the heartwood rings were almost perfectly uniform up to within about thirty feet of the top of a 265 -foot tree.The sapwood rings, however, show very bad distortion with little identification in the known sequoia series. This was due, apparently, to the fact that the tree had been blown down in 1901 without entirely losing root and bark con- nections with the ground. Through that connection, one side of the tree was nourished and the bark and some of the branches remained alive until 1315, fourteen years after the tree was blown down.