Growth-Rings as a Record of Years, Seasons and Orientation
Sawn rings tell wet and dry years and which way the tree faced; lettered notes a through u on bark, tops and boughs
A dense sequence of lettered aphorisms on trees. Leonardo says the oldest bark cracks first and grows roughest, and that the rings of a sawn branch reveal the number of its years and which were wetter or drier by their thickness. The rings also show the quarters of the sky the tree faced: thicker toward the north, so the pith lies nearer the southern bark, and he admits this does not serve painting but writes it to leave as little as possible unsaid about trees. Further notes hold that the tops nearest the main bough grow most, the leaves born first fall last, an aging tree bears smaller branches, and the straightest boughs put out the fewest side-shoots; a new heading (830, citing Book B fol. 6) begins on the obtuse angles of widely spreading plants. This leaf carries text only, with no diagram.
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Rings record years, wet and dry seasons, and orientation (c)
The rings of sawn branches show the number of a tree's years and which were wetter or drier by their greater or lesser thickness. They also mark the quarters it faced: thicker to the north than the south, so the tree's centre lies nearer its southern bark. Leonardo notes this does not serve painting yet writes it to leave as little as possible unsaid of trees.
Tops nearest the main bough grow most (s)
Those tree-tops make the greatest growth which are nearest the master branch of their tree. The leaves that come out first and fall last are those born on the master tops, and a tree that ages more admits smaller branches.
Straightest boughs bear the fewest side-shoots (t)
That branch extends in the most continuous thickness and the straightest which generates the fewest little branches around itself. A new heading (830), citing Book B folio 6, adds that widely spreading plants have the more obtuse dividing angles the lower their origin.