134 NOTES ON TBEES. [Dec, 



In Tuscany, branches of Juniper are carried to the churches to be 

 blessed on Palm Sunday. Berghaus tells us that among the Bashkirs 

 Juniper berries are kept as a charm against evil spirits. Porta, in 

 Phytognomica, recommends the use of Juniper ashes in leprosy. 

 Pliny tells us that the Greeks and Eomans sometimes burned Juniper 

 in place of incense and Rosemary. In Venetia they burn Juniper 

 branches to purify the air for the silkworms ; in which, as in the 

 Esthonian custom referred to at the beginning of this paper, we have, 

 possibly, some vague glimmerings of hygienic fact still but imper- 

 fectly apprehended by ourselves. H. M. C. 



NOTES ON TBEES. 





HE Oak. — The largest Oak for its age that I ever measured was 

 planted by Lord Mansfield at Scone, on the rich alluvial soil on 

 the banks of the Tay. It stands in the pleasure grounds, and at 

 68 years old, in 1877, measured 70 ft. in height, and 7 ft. 11 inches 

 in girth, at 5 ft. from the ground. The bole was magnificent, 

 tapering very graduall}'. At 31 ft. from the ground it measured 

 ft. 4 in. and at 36 ft. the girth reached 5 ft. Its cubical 

 contents were 120 ft. — worth, at 2s. 6d. per foot, £15. This is the 

 largest young Oak of QS years old that I have ever seen. In about 

 six more generations, or we will say, 200 years, the Scone Oak, will 

 probably have packed beneath its bark about as much timber as any 

 tree of the kind in Great Britain. 



Arthur Young obtained some interesting statistics on the growth 

 of Oaks in Sussex, which I will quote from his ' Annals,' for the, 

 sake of comparison. He prepared them with a view to encourage 

 planting for profit ; I may quote them as examples of the tons or 

 cubic feet of timber which the planter can produce within a given 

 period. 



The red clay of Petworth was noted for its yield of Oak timber. 

 Arthur Young mentions that Lord Egremont cut £5,000 worth of 

 Oak from 9 acres of land, the trees were conjectured to be from 

 150 to 200 years growth — 200 trees sold at £15 a tree ; 11, each 

 containing a load of timber, stood in 30 ft. square, or 900 square 

 feet of ground. One tree sold at £70 and was re-sold for £100. 

 Oaks planted at Itchingfield in 1711, cut in 1787, had produced 

 above 30 ft. of timber on an average ; one tree produced a load. 

 The timber was worth, at that time, from lOd. to 3s, per foot, 

 according to size and quality. 



There was an oak at Petworth, in the park, which contained 

 between seven and eight loads of timber, measuring 14 ft. 3t in. in 



