The best way of doing this is very easy. Chop down a tree and count the ring which, over the years, have added to the thickness of the trunk. During these growing years, which we call 'years of growth', the rings formed when the tree grew rapidly in spring and summer. It then developed a bigger trunk to carry up more water and other nourishing substances from the roots to the leaves. In the autumn and winter, the tree needs les water, as leaves which are on the point of falling have less need. The nourishment is thus used more by the trunk and the roots, and when the leaves have fallen, solely by the trunk. This nourishment is stored in the form of starch to survive the winter, the leafless season. In autumn and winter thin trunks scarcely grow at all. There is thus a succession of thick and thin lines visible in a section of a tree. A circle or a series of small holes in known as a 'year ring'. This can be used as a form of telling different species apart as trees all have difference growth rates. So by measuring the circumference, it is possible to tell the age of a tree from its growth rate.
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