CHAP. CV.

coryla'ce®. QUE'RCUS.

1839

■MMi

vm

13 ft. Sin. in circumference, and has attained a good height ; the branches spread in the form of a domeand nearly touch the ground, in all parts of the circle sheltered by the luxuriant foliage of thissplendid specimen ; the diameter of this circle is 95 ft.” In Wiltshire , at Longleat, 250 years old,it is 60 ft. high, the diameter of the head 75 ft, and girt of the trunk 19 ft. 6 in.; at Wardour Castle,200 years old, it is 50 ft. high, the diameter of the head 45 ft, and girt of the trunk 25 ft.; at Long,ford Castle it is 60 ft. high, the diameter of the head 80 ft., and girt of the trunk 15 ft; in SavernakeForest there are many large and noble oaks, besides those mentioned in p. 1771. and p. 1792.

The British Oak North of London. In Bedfordshire, at Woburn Abbey , Q. peduncul&ta is 75 fthigh, and the circumference of the trunk is 18 ft. 6 in. ; Q. sessiliflbra is 90 ft. high, the diameter ofJhc head is 63 ft., and the girt of the trunk 21 ft. 6 in. Near Bedford, on an estate also belonging tothe Duke of Bedford, stands a remarkably fine growing tree, called the Oakley Oak, which girts 15 ft.9in. at 2 ft from the ground; the height is 75 ft, and the diameter of the head, from the extremitiesof the branches, is 116 ft. In Howe’s Park, Q. pedunculkta is 85 ft. high, and the girt of the trunkloft.; and Q. sessiliflbra is 90 ft. high, and the circumference of the trunk 29 ft. At Flitwick Housethere is an old oak 60ft. high, which girts 18ft.; it has a straight trunk about 35ft. high before itfo™ 18 any branches; there is also a young oak, planted in 1818, which, in 1836, was 30ft. high, and2rt. 5| in. in circumference. At Ampthill Park there are two fine old oaks : the first (Q. peduncul&ta)18 high, and the trunk girts 25ft.; the second (O. sessiliflbra) is 60ft. high, girting 24ft.,v u . a ^ eac * 100 ft* in diameter. In Breconshire , the largest oak is one (now in a state of decay)which girts 25 ft. at 5 ft. from the ground: it grows with some other fine trees near the old mansionot rantycored, near Brecon, and belongs to Dillwyn Llewelyn, Esq. In Buckinghamshire , at ClaydonHouse, the seat of Sir Harry Verney , are two very fine oaks : the circumference of the trunk of the* S ^ anc * the diameter of the head 120 ft.: the circumference of the trunk of the other tree,at the smallest part, is 21 ft. At Harleyford is an oak 16 ft. in girt, and dividing into two enormoush' h ea ,, f rom 0 ft* to 12 ft. in circumference. Waller’s oaks, near Beaconsfield, are about 100 ft.ru*’ an (j 8 ft. in circumference: they were planted by Waller in 1730, In Caermarthenshire, atlOiaen Grove, are many fine oaks, supposed to be about 300 years old, above 80 ft. high, and withib-Jk * rom ^ ^ t° 18 ft. in circumference. In Cambridgeshire , at Wimpole, is an oak 75 ft. high,ltn a trunk 13 ft. in girt, which is clear to the height of 50 ft. In Cheshire, at Combermere Abbey,7( -^ e 18 a pohard oak 80 ft. high, the circumference of the trunk 24 ft., and diameter of the head: there are also some oaks in a growing state, about 70 ft. high, with heads from 75 ft. to 80 ft. inameter, and trunks girting about 12 ft. (For other oaks at Combermere see p. 1756.) At Bucklandfording to Mitchell, there is an oak with a trunk 24ft. in circumference at 5ft. from thea riu! n * nc * w h‘bh> at 8 ft., branches out into four large limbs, about 60 ft. high, amt spreading overisthr™ i r ff* Derbyshire , the approach to Kedleston House, the seat of Lord Scarsdale,these** 1 ^ ne °f oak groves in the kingdom. We have received the following account of

, ,, 1rees { ri °ro the Honourable and Reverend Frederick Curzon :— (e The largest oak, called, parofajFMhe ‘ King Tree,’ measures in girt, at 6 ft. from the ground, 24 ft.; it has a noble trunkdalp L j Ut a branch, and appears in a healthy and growing state. The late Lord Scars.„ U i etus ®n 300 guineas for it about 20 years ago, when he sold a tree standing near it for 20420ftea*h >> ere are a ^ 0L, f a dozen more trees in the same grove, with trunks girting from 19 ft. toin the™ 1 ’ ^ n . Durham , at Ravensworth Castle, there is an oak which is supposed to be the largestand m> Unt 7 : it is 70ft. high, with a trunk 18 ft. 4in. in circumference at 1ft. from the ground,acmi-din ^ ft- j the head is 80 ft. in diameter. In Essex , the Lawn Oak, at Writtle Park,the , Burnet, is 25 ft. in girt at 5 ft. from the ground; and the great Northfield Oak, in

oak tho P a i £' irts ft- 0 in. at the same height. At Hempstead, near Saffron Walden , is an oldFlintshir U,1 rt yhich, we are informed by J. Pease, Esq. M.P., girts from 50ft. to 53 ft. Inand eirff’iQ a rejftmgton, the seat of Lord Kenyon, there are two oaks, one of which is 96 ft. high,fine trpPQ. ^ ® * n '» an d the other is 83 ft. high, and girts 15 ft. In Glamorganshire are several

from fhat’ an ,among others the Sketty Oak. We have received the following account of this treetree ernuKr^pT en * British botanist and ardent lover of trees, L. W. Dillwyn, Esq., M.P. .*—” Thishourhood • w * et ^etty, about 2 miles from my house. When I first came into this neigh-fightnine- m ^ was a magnificent tree; but, a few years afterwards, it was much damaged by'i’fie trunJr * atK * . one , °f the main branches, within these 3 or 4 years, has been torn off by a storm,at 4 ft. 6i n 1 ^ lnte hollow, with a circumference of 37 ft. 9 in. at the base; and it measures 24ift. 2 in.We have . before any of the enlargement occasioned by the branches begins.”

about a mn* Cei I ec *i t; * le following account of the Lanelay Oak, also, from Mr. Dillwyn : —“ It growsdhnensioi'c a ?ii a ta ^ from Lantrissant; and ray friend the Rev. J. M. Traherne has sent me itstree is in a wf t< r‘ ows : —‘58 ft. 6 in. round the base, and 27 ft. 2in. at 3 ft. from the ground.’ Thismuch more shattered state than the one at Lower Sketty : one side of the hollow trunk6 D