190 '*A FEW NOTCHES ON OLD TREES." 



pletely cross the cliurchjard on to tlie roof of tlie church, 

 on the opposite side, without deseeding to the ground. 



Elms. — I have not much to say about these trees. They 

 are very graceful, and are amongst the tallest of our English 

 trees — about 100 ft. being the highest. 



On a gentle eminence in the pleasure grounds of Chip- 

 stead Place, Kent, is an elm 60 ft. high, 20 ft. in circumfer- 

 ence at its root, and 15 ft. 8 in. at 3| ft. from the ground. 



There used to be a noted elm at the village of Crawley, 

 on the high road from London to Brighton, the trunk of 

 which, near the ground, measured 61 ft. 



The "Tubney" or " Tyfield Elm," in Oxfordshire, has 

 much local and some poetic fame. 



Majestic as they are in appearance, and the first large 

 trees to express the delight of spring by putting out their 

 leaves, they do not rank among the " patriarchs of the 

 forest." So far as I can make out, it seems very question- 

 able whether any elm exceeds 300 years in age. 



Beeches. — There was, in the early part of this century, a 

 tree in Windsor Park, near Sunning Hill, known as the 

 " Great Beech " ; but I have not been able to ascertain its 

 present existence. But at Stoke Pogis, in Buckinghamshire, 

 there are the famous Burnham Beeches, two of which, the 

 " Monarch of the Grlen," which measures 27 ft. at the ground, 

 and the " Hollow Beech," must have been grand trees in 

 their prime. It was beneath the shade, or in the vicinity 

 of these trees, that Gray, " the youth to fortune and to 

 fame unknown," wrote his poetic musings, and thus de- 

 scribes himself : — 



" There, at the foot of 3'onder nodding beech, 

 That -wreaths its old fantastic roots so high, 

 His listless length at noontide would he stretch. 

 And pore upon the brook that babbles by." 



