Page:TheTreesOfGreatBritainAndIreland vol03B.djvu/437

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Sequoia
707

told by Mr. A. MacKellar, 85½ feet high and 12½ feet in girth at 3 feet from the ground.

The largest and finest tree I have measured myself is in an open but well sheltered glade near the lake at Fonthill Abbey, and was, in November 1906, certainly over 100 feet and probably 105 feet high, by 17 feet in girth (Plate 106). This tree was raised at Eaton Hall from seed sent to Lord Stalbridge in 1861, and is not so old by seven years as many others in this country.

There are two very fine trees at Poltimore Park, Devonshire, the seat of Lord Poltimore, one of which I measured in August 1906, and found to be 98 feet by 16 feet 9 inches, but the gardener, Mr. Slade,[1] thinks it is taller. Near the Temple, at Highclere, there is a tree which I saw in 1903, of which the size is given by Mr. Storie, the forester, as 97 feet by 13 feet, but I could not verify this measurement myself.

One of the largest in girth that I know, is an ugly tree at Powderham whose top has long been broken, and which has formed immense branches, so thickly crowded that I could only get the tape round it with assistance. In 1906 it was no less than 17 feet 8 inches; but I must observe that the exact girth of such trees is of little importance, as it depends very much on the height at which the measurement is taken.

At Beauport, Sussex, there are two fine trees, one of which, planted in 1856, was, in 1904, 86 feet high by 13 feet 8 inches in girth. The other, a younger tree, measured 83 feet by 11 feet 11 inches. Sir Hugh Beevor measured in 1904 a tree at Hardwicke, Suffolk, 80 feet by 12 feet 4 inches, and another at Wooton, 85 feet by 14 feet 6 inches. Mr. R. Woodward, jun., reports in 1906 two trees at Wexham Place, Stoke Pogis, the residence of E.H. Wilding, Esq., which measured 79 feet by 9 feet 6 inches and 78 feet by 10 feet 8 inches. Canon Ellacombe[2] planted a tree at Bitton in 1855, which had attained 70 feet in height in 1888. A tree[3] at Wrest Park, Bedfordshire, planted in 1856, was, in 1900, 74 feet high by 15 feet 3 inches in girth.

At Strathfieldsaye there is a fine large tree,[4] planted in 1857, which I measured in 1903, and found to be 85 feet by about 12 feet. In 1907 it was 90 feet high, but the branches were so thick that I could not get the girth with sufficient accuracy to say how much increase it had made. A number of branches have become layered— a not uncommon occurrence in damp and sheltered situations—but when they have been allowed to remain long after taking root, it is perhaps better not to take them off, as this disfigures the tree for some time. There is also a fine avenue of this tree at Strathfieldsaye, which is more regular and satisfactory in growth than some others which I have seen. Another at Orton Longueville is no less than 700 yards from east to west, but some of the trees when I saw them seemed to be suffering from the wetness of the subsoil, the tops of many being stunted. There is also a fine

  1. Cf. Mr. Slade's remarks on this tree in Gard. Chron. xxvii. 406 (1900).
  2. Gard. Chron. iii. 801 (1888).
  3. Ibid. xxvii. 373, fig. 121 (1900).
  4. In 1868, this tree was 24½ feet high; in 1872, 30 feet high; in 1895, 71 feet high; and in 1899, 79 feet. A cutting from it was struck, and planted out in 1875, when about 2 feet high, and had attained, in 1896, 30 feet in height and 6 feet in girth, at 4 feet from the ground. Cf. Gard. Chron. xix. 8 (1896) and xxvi. 162 (1899).
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