ENTS: While I was doing some historic research on the cultural history of the Natural Bridge State Park, located in North Adams Massachusetts, I found an interesting article in the Weekly Transcript, North Adams, Mass., Thursday, July 12, 1849.
*A Large Tree. --- Mr. D. E. Hawks, of Charlemont, cut a Pine tree a short time since, of the following dimensions. It was 7 feet through 10 feet from the stump, and 5 feet through 50 feet from the stump. Twenty-two logs were taken from the tree, the average length of which were 12 feet. Fourteen feet of the tree were spoiled in falling. The extreme length of the tree from the stump to the top twigs was 300 feet! ---- Greenfield Gazette.* ** ** *I asked Robert Campanile if he thought this was possible and here is the response he gave me.* TREE GENETICS There can be enormous variation among the different individuals of any one species and this is partly genetic. For instance, grain and figure may vary, just like human fingerprints. There may be no specific benefit from such variation. But if there is no great natural selective pressure not to vary, then variations will creep in. Genomes are not commandments, which say exactly what to do come what may. Genes present options. They operate in dialogue with the environment. So the same tree, grown under different circumstances, could grow in very different ways, and the effects of the different circumstances are reflected in the timber, height, width, etc. The growing timber responds to the stresses and strains and pressures just as the bone of mammals may do. In forests, trees grow straight and tall, anxious for the light. That and the resources needed to accomplish that growth will be factors in determining the height and shape of the tree needed to get the light. Conifers are generally light lovers. To this end they have a trick – many can grow very tall very quickly. This is why in the far north they tend to be very tall and thin – the sun is always low in the sky and so they get most of their light from the side. The environment dictates the conditions and the challenge, and genes can sometimes help meet that challenge with the variance in growth and natural processes that the genetic code allows. Tim -- Eastern Native Tree Society http://www.nativetreesociety.org Send email to [email protected] Visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/entstrees?hl=en To unsubscribe send email to [email protected]
