E ?5 1 



* Dear Sir, 



Stratton^ OSf. i, 1779. 



' IN compliance with your rcqiicfl, I here fend 

 you the nieafures of feme of the largefl: trees, taken 

 by myfelf, in feveral rambles about the kingdom. 

 But although I have been in parts of every county 

 of England and Wales, perhaps larger than thefe 

 may have efcaped my fearch > as I never heard of 

 the Demary oak by Blandford, until I read Mr. 

 Hutchinfon's account of it in his hiftory of Dor- 

 fetfhire. The largelt oak I have ii^^n is that at 

 Cowthorp, or Coltfthorp, near Wetherby in York- 

 Jhire, of which the ingenious Dr. Hunter gives a 

 plate in his Edition of Evelyn's Sylva, The Dodor 

 calls this tree 48 feet circumference at 3 feet from 

 the ground; and I found it in 1768, at 4 feet, 40 f. 

 6 in.; and at 5 feet, 2^ f« 6 in.; and at 6 (ttiy 32 f, 

 I in. — Here to fave repetition, 5 feet is the height 

 I always meafure at, as eafier to fee the level jf the 

 firing, and alio being clearer of the fwelJings of 

 the roots. 



^ ' In 1759, the O^^ '^^ lldit Foreft, near Bentley, 

 was, at 7 feet, 34 ft. There is a large excrefeence 

 at 5 and 6 feet, that would render the meafure un- 

 ftkr. In 1778, this tree was increafed half an inch, 

 in 19 years. It does r^ot appear to b^ hollow, but 

 by the trifling in,cretife, I conclude it not found. 



The 



