[Illustration: THE FORCE OF TREE GROWTH.]
The disruptive power of tree roots, growing in the crevices of rocks,
is well known. Masses of stone weighing many tons are often dislodged
in this way from the faces of cliffs, and no one gives them more than
a passing glance. When, however, the sanctity of the tomb is
invaded, despite the graven warning of the occupant, the case is very
different, and superstitious people are apt to think there must be
something in it more than accident and the unconscious expression of
the resistless force of growing vegetation.
The engraving herewith is copied from a photograph sent to us by
a European correspondent, of a grave in the Garten churchyard, in
Hanover, Germany, the invasion of which by a birch tree has been the
occasion of much wonderment by country people, who come from great
distances to examine it.
The monument, so unfeelingly disrupted, was erected in 1782, and bears
on its base the following inscription: "This grave, which was bought
for all eternity, must never be opened." A chance birch seed, lodging
in a crevice of the monument, has displayed the irony of nature in
slowly yet surely thwarting the desire of the person who designed it
for a perpetual memorial. All the joints are separated, the strong
iron clamps are broken, and the birch tree has embraced the upper
large block, which weighs about one and a quarter tons, and the
tree is driving its roots below, gradually but surely tilting the
structure.
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