1884.] 



CHIPS AND SLIPS. 



389 





K.r^4{- 



A E,i;coRD OF Service. — A corre- 

 sp:)iiileut writes :- — 'In these days of 

 slioit service the following is worthy of 

 record : — A service, ia each case reach- 

 ing over half-a-century, has just been 

 brought to a close through the death 

 of three faithful servants in the em- 

 ployment of Mr. Papillon, of Crow- 

 hurst Park, Sussex, and Lexden 

 Manor, Essex. James Head, for 60 

 years head gardener at Lexden Manor, 

 and five years previously in the same 

 capacity with another member of Mr. 

 Papillon's family, making up a service 

 of G5 years in the same family, died 

 January 12, aged 85. Samuel Saxby, 

 five years estate carpenter and 50 years 

 bailiff and woodreeve at Crowhurst 

 Park, died February 3, aged 82 ; and 

 on the same day, aged 77, James 

 S.ixby, for (JO years sawyer on the 

 •same estate.' — -Times, 



A Larse Corsicwn Pixe. — Mr. A. 

 D. Webster, of the Penrhyn Castle 

 Estate, writes to a contemporary, that 

 'probably the largest Pinus Lai'icio ever 

 felled in Britain was last week sent to 

 our sawmill to be cut into boarding. 

 Tlie cut end was 32 inches in diameter 

 and at 9 feet it measured 6 feet 2 

 inches in circumference. Eighteen 

 feet in length of the cut end was free 

 of branches, and as straight as an 

 arrow, and contained exactly 30 cubic 

 feet of timber. The wood appeared 

 of excellent quality, resembling very 

 closely the red deal of commerce, and 

 contained a great quantity of resin. 

 This tree was growing on almost pure 

 gravel, and but for an accident v/ould 



never have been removed from the 

 position it so nobly filled.' 



The ' Major Oak ' — During the re- 

 cent gale, said a contemporary a short 

 time since, one of the most noted 

 trees in Sherwood Forest fell a prey to 

 the wind's violence. It was known as 

 the ' Major Oak,' and was situated 

 near Edwinstowe. The tree, a grand 

 old Oak, had a girth of 29 ft., and ' the 

 circumference of the outspread tree 

 at the iitmost extent of its branches 

 was two hundred and forty feet.' It 

 was at one time called the Cockspen 

 Tree, because its interior was used 

 formerly as a hen-roost. Latterly 

 many picnic parties have gathered in 

 the hollowed-out trunk, and in a 

 history of Worksop the following 

 reference is made to the tree: — 'Seven 

 persons at once have been known to 

 partake of a meal in it ; while no doubt 

 with a little contrivance it might have 

 accommodated more.' Notwithstanding 

 its internal decay, the old Oak (which 

 has existed for more than seven cen- 

 turies) was one of tlie noblest trees in 

 the kingdom. A correspondent writ- 

 ing subsequently to the same paper 

 said : — Your readers will be pleased 

 to leirn that the late storms in Sher- 

 wood Forest have not been so fatal to 

 the 'Major Oak' as would appear 

 from the recent paragraph in your 

 paper. During the high winds on 

 January 23rd, a large branch was 

 severed from the top of the tree, 

 measuring seven feet in girth near the 

 fracture, but when the tree is again 

 covered with its summer foliage au 



