2074

ARBORETUM AND FRUTICETUM.

PART 111.

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ated in Buckland churchyard, about a mile from Dover ; and, according toan account given of it by the Rev. W. T. Bree, is of great antiquity andsingular formation. About the middle of the last century, the tree “ wasshattered by lightning, which, at the same time, demolished also the steeple ofthe church, close to which it stands. To this catastrophe, no doubt, is tobe attributed, in a great measure, much of the rude and grotesque appearancewhich it now presents. At a yard from the ground, the but, which ishollow, and, on one side, extremely tortuous and irregular, protruding its‘ knotted fangs,’ like knees, at the height of some feet from the surface,measures 24 ft. in circumference. It is split from the bottom into two por-tions ; one of which, at the height of about 6 ft., again divides naturally intotwo parts; so that the tree consists of a short equal but, branching out intothree main arms; the whole not exceeding in height, to the extreme top ofthe branches, more than about 25 ft. or 30 ft. Of what may be regarded asthe original trunk and arms but little now remains alive : two considerableportions, however, are still conspicuous in the state of dead wood; viz. oneon the inner part of the northern limb, hollow, and forming a sort of tunnelor chimney; the other on the western limb, more solid, and exhibiting thegrain of the wood singularly gnarled and contorted. These, which are pro-bably portions of the original trunk and arms, are partly encased, as it were,