There is something awe-inspiring in the presence of a tree of great age and colossal dimensions. There is an elevating grandeur in the view of the lofty mountain whose storm-furrowed summit penetrates the very regions of the clouds, and which wears a perpetual crown of glistening snow. But the impresssions in such a presence are those of stupendous power and enduring existence. But when we stand in the shadow of a monarch of the vegetable world, and look up to its spreading branches, and waving leaves, the feeling inspired is not so much of awe and grandeur, as of admiration and reverence. A tree is a living being, and to look upon one that has wrestled with the storms, drank in the dews, and waved its green leaves in the sunlight of centuries, or even thousands of years, awakens feelings akin to sympathy and admiration. And if it be one of these patriarchs that have survived the generations of trees as well as men; one in whose shade the aged people of a score of generations have talked of the past, the vigorous have talked and planned of the future, and the children have played regardless of all but the present enjoyment, an undefinable conviction steals into our hearts that we are standing in the presence of the embodied past.

We feel like taking off our hat in reverence to these illustrious examples of vegetable longevity. Such being the case it does not seem strange when we are told that, " The groves were God's first temples;" and that the ancient idolators were wont to • build their altars in sacred groves, and that even in more recent times the Druids should have chosen the grand oak forests for the performance of their religious rites.

Some of these ancient oaks under which the priests of this mysterious religion probably worshiped and offered up their bloody sacrifices, are still standing and enjoying a venerable, but green old age. An oak tree that stands in Clipson Park is over 1,500 years old, having been known before the Norman Conquest. The Shire oak, whose shadow falls on three different shires, covers with its foliage 780 square yards. The largest oak in England is at Calthorpe in Yorkshire. It measures at the base 78 feet in circumference. France boasts of some very large oaks; one of which is found near the village of Champrasay, and is 18 feet in circumference. The oak of Allanville is 30 feet in circumference and over 900 years old. But these are mere saplings compared with the oak of Mantravail, which is certainly 1,500, but most likely 2,000 years old. It has a diameter of 30 feet and a circumference of more than 90 feet.

The Chestnut also furnishes some illustrious examples of great size and longevity. One near Lake Geneva is 46 feet in circumference, and is supposed to be a stunted specimen at that, having been struck several times with lightning. Some of the chestnut trees on Mt.AEtna are 36 feet in diameter. But the tree of this species found in that locality is 160 feet in circumference, and has an opening through it at the base large enough to allow two carriages to be driven through it abreast.

The Linden also attains to a great age. One at Neustadt, in Wurtemburg, was an old tree in 1229. Its crown of branches is 400 feet in circumference; is divided into two great branches, one of which was broken off by a storm more than a century ago; the other one is no feet in length. A tree of this species standing near Freiburg is 40 feet in circumference, 75 feet high, and was a noted tree as early as 1476. One at Prilly, near Lausanne, was so large 500 years ago that court was held in its shade. The Yew tree is sometimes remarkable for age. One at Foullebec, in France, is estimated at 1200 years, and one in Scotland is more than 3000 years old.

Near Trans, on the upper Rhine, stands a sycamore tree 28 feet in circumference, under which a conference was held to organize a Republic in 1424. The Plane tree of Godfrey of Bouillon, is claimed to be the most gigantic vegetable organism in existence. Its mass of foliage rises more than 180 feet in height, and is 340 feet in circumference. This tree, or rather forest, consists of a double trunk that measures 35 feet round, then a space of 15 feet burned out, then a single trunk 17 feet in circumference, then a group of six trunks united in one measuring 70 feet in circumference.

The Baobab is one of the most remarkable trees that grow. It is not unusual for them to measure 70 to 77 feet around and often reach 100, and they do not get their growth till 800 years of age. The age of some of them has been estimated at 5000 to 6000 years, which would carry them back beyond the time of Noah's flood, according to common chronology. These large trunks are frequently hollow, some having cavities large enough to hold 225 to 250 men.

The Dragon tree is another tree remarkable for size. One on the Island of Teneriffe measured, nearly 100 years ago, 45 feet in circumference. But the same tree was measured in 1402 and was just as large then as it is now. Among the colossal trees of the world the Eucalyptus of Australia stands almost the first. They are often 300 feet high and 25 to 33 feet in diameter. Our own country is not noted for mammoth trees except in one case. I remember when a boy often passing an oak tree that stood nearly a mile south-east of the point where the corners of Henry and Delaware counties in Indiana join the line of Randolph county. This tree was nine feet in diameter. Some years ago I heard it had been made into rails. A gentleman told me that in the early part of this century he saw a family living in the hollow of a sycamore tree in the valley of the Ohio river in southern Indiana. The hollow measured 18 feet across in the center. Our giant redwoods of California are too well known to need describing here. One that was felled some 30 years ago was 450 feet high and 120 feet in circumference; and being the biggest tree in the world it may well close this article.

Canon City, Col.