Much has been said and writen upon the age of trees, both living and alter they have been reduced to the use of man. That under favorable conditions the vegetable fibre is well calculated to resist the ruthless ravages of time, many well authenticated evidences have been accumulated to show. The roof of Westminster Hall in London, which baa of late years given rise to repeated disputations as to whether it be of oak or chestnut, was without doubt, erected a thousand years ago, and continues perfectly sound; and there are other edifices in the old world which contain equally old timber in perfect preservation. But there has lately been imported into England, some specimens of ancient timber, which by contrast take away the dignity of age from the European ancients. During the excavations which have been so perseveringly prosecuted under the direction of Dr. Layard at Ninevah. some timbers of considerable size, of the wood Of the Mulberry, have recently been discovered, which are said to be as solid and firm as they were when placed in the position from which they are now withdrawn.

But when were these venerable ancients submitted to the axe? At least seven or eight hundred years before the christian sera; and they are now some twenty five or six centuries old! We are not aware that any specimens of old timber can at all bear comparison to these, for in none of the ruins of Egypt or of India, that the researches of the many indefatigable travellers of the lost hundred years has produced, was there found any wood work that, from its position and appearances, indicated an age coeval with the structures themselves.