1916

ARBORETUM AND FRUTICETUM.

PART III.

tractors, who had no demand for it. Thus the government, for a temporarygain, occasioned a national loss of a prodigious number of valuable trees.(Sketches, &c., vol. ii. p. 248.) The oldest cork tree in the neighbourhoodof London is in the grounds of the Fulham Palace; one of the handsomest,though a much smaller tree, is that in the Fulham Nursery, of which theengraving in our last Volume is a portrait. In the garden of the LondonHorticultural Society, the rate of growth may be stated as 6 ft. or 8 ft. in 10years; but, with extraordinary preparation, it would grow with double thatrapidity. The largest cork tree in Britain (perhaps in the world) is one inDevonshire, at Mamhead, about 8 miles from Exeter. In 1834, the circum-ference of the trunk of this tree, at 1 ft. from the ground, was 12 ft. 6 in. Theheight of the trunk, before it branched off, was 10 ft., and the total height ofthe tree about 60 ft. It stands in the middle of the park, quite detached andexposed, at an elevation of about 450 ft. above the level of the sea, in a soilof fine rich red loam, on a substratum of red stone conglomerate. It is only3 miles distant from the sea, and is exposed to the sea breeze from the east.The head is oval and compact, and its grand massive branches, each’ of whichwould form a tree of noble dimensions, are covered with rugged corky bark,resembling richly chased frosted silver, which is finely contrasted with thedark green luxuriant foliage. Near this tree stands another, 50 ft. high, witha trunk 11 ft. 3 in. in circumference. (Gard. Mag., vol. xi. p. 127.)

In Ireland, in the neighbourhood of Cork, on the estate of Sammerstownthere is a cork tree of unknown age, and which is thought by some to havestood there for several centuries. Several generations ago, it must have beena remarkable tree, for the then proprietor, when letting the land on which thetree stands, introduced a clause into the lease, by which the tenant incurreda penalty of 20/., if he cut down or injured the tree. Fig. 1800. is a portrait

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of this tree, to the scale of 1 in. to 10 ft., which was sent to the Magazine ofNatural History in 1828; and the following are tho dimensions of the trunk andprincipal branches : — Girt of the trunk at 3 ft. from the ground, 8 ft. 10 in .;height of the trunk before it divides, 9 feet; girt of each of the two principalbranches, 6 ft. 10in.; girt of the second-rate branches, 5 ft. 4in.; diameter ofthe head, 36 ft.; the thickness of the cork, or outer bark, on the trunk, isabout 3 in. The height of this tree was not sent to us; but, judging fromthe drawing, it appears to be between 25 ft. and 30 ft.