1854

ARBORETUM AND FRUTICETUM.

PART III.

oak in his own nur-sery, as describedabove from the Phi-losoph. Transactions ,in 1772. “QuercusLucombedwet,” Mr.

Pince informs us,“ isa hybrid producedbetween Q-.ViiberandQ. Cerris ; the latterspecies being thefemale parent. Itwas raised by thelate Mr. Lucombe,who was founder of-. 'the Exeter Nursery,from seeds gatheredby him off a speci-men tree of Q. Cer-ris, which grew in hisnursery, near to oneof Q. .Suber, whichaccounts for its hy-brid origin; the blos-som of the Turkeyoak having doubtless been impregnated by the farina of the cork tree.Mr. Lucombe first noticed it about 75 years ago, and extensivelypropagated and sold it all over the kingdom. When the originaltree had attained 20 years’ growth, and was about 3 ft. in circum-ference, Mr. Lucombe, being then far advanced in years, had it cutdown, for the purpose of making his coffin out of it. He, however,lived so much longer than be had anticipated, that several years be-fore his death, he had another much larger and older tree cut down,sawn into planks, and carefully deposited under his bed, in readinessfor the above purpose; and inside those planks, over which for manyyears he had reposed, he was at last put to rest, at the advanced ageof 102 years. The largest and finest specimens of the old Lucombeoak now existing are growing at Killerton, the beautiful residenceof Sir Thomas D. Acland, Bart., near Exeter, where, in 1834, atree, 80 years planted, was 73 ft. high; diameter of the trunk 3 ft. 5 in.,and of the head 62 ft. At Castle Hill, the splendid demesne of EarlFortescue, near South Molton; and at Carclew, the seat of SirCharles Lemon, Bart., near Falmouth, in Cornwall; are other veryfine trees : one at the latter place, in 1834, 70 years planted,being 82 ft. 4 in. high; diameter of the trunk 3 ft. 3 in., and of thehead 40 ft. The old Lucombe oak differs most materially from theFulham oak; more especially in the general outline of the tree, andits habit of growth, as will be seen by the accompanying sketches.(jigs. 1712. and 1713.). Its bark is also much more corky than that ofthe Fulham oak. The old Lucombe oak cannot be propagated, withany degree of certainty (being strictly a hybrid), from acorns, al-though these are produced rather freely sometimes, and vegetatewell; but the produce differs entirely from the parent; and we there-fore perpetuate it by grafting it upon stocks of the Quercus Cerris,to which it freely unites, and flourishes amazingly; frequently mak-ing shoots from 5 ft. to 6 ft. high the first season from grafting.The wood is of a close texture, and beautiful grain. The growth ofthe tree is rapid, and its whole appearance extremely beautiful.Sketch No. 1., by Mr. Tucker (Jig. 1712.), represents the old Lu-