ORIGINAL: wahoohunter
ORIGINAL: castnblastkev
Water is carried in the outer lighter colored rings and the darker colored center of thewood is called the heartwood and is dead and no longer currently carries water
Bingo. If you have a tree that has, say, 100 rings, it is only the outermost 3-5 rings that actually still transport water to the tree. The inside 95% of the rings are "dead" in that they no longer function to keep the tree alive, in fact, 95% of all trees are "not living"

just a useless bit of information to throw into the conversation at your next cocktail party
LikeI said, every one of those rings "carried" water during that year of growth. Also, a tree is not at all "dead" inside. Actually, it's quite alive! Where do you think a tree gets it's plyabilityfrom? They haveplenty of moisture inside.Just because the inside of the tree doesn't grow, that doesn't make it "dead".[8D]