[ 8o ] 



growfh of this chefnut, yet perhaps I have allowed 

 Sufficiently for that tre^, as it grows on a ftifFelay ; 

 which, though perhaps it may in the end produce 

 the largeft trees, yet I believe naoft trees will grow 

 faller in lighter foils. 



I planted an oak in 1720, which was laft autumn 

 7 f. 9 in. I do not pretend to remember the fizc 

 when planted J but in autumn 1742, it was- 1 f. 

 11^ -in.; i.e, 57-^- in. increafe in 36- years,— above 

 an inch and a half yearly. But this oak was taken 

 from very poor land to a tolerable light foil, and 

 {lands fingle 5 and perhaps the growth was helped 

 by digging a large circle round it in feveral winters, 

 and in other years having that circle covered with 

 greafy pond rnudj and in fome dry feafons, I 

 waihed the ftem : the advantage of wafhing I ex- 

 perienced in 1775, greatly to my fatisfadlion. You 

 may fee the full account in my letter to the Bifhop 

 of Bath and Wells, in the 67th volume of the 

 Philof. Tranf. in 1777. But fuppofing thefe en- 

 deavours did not help the growth of this oak, yet I 

 apprehend it will not be 225 inches in circumfe- 

 rence when 200 years old. For though the He- 

 -vingham chefnut is a healthful tree, it has increafed 

 but 25 inches and a half in the laft ^^ years, (viz. 

 from my firft meafuring it) which Ihews, if it had 

 not gained more in its younger ft^te, it would have 



taken 



