XIV. 



ON THE DESTRUCTION OF AN ELM-TREE BY FUNGI AT 



ST. ALBANS. 



By Geoege Abbey. 



Commuuicated by A. E. Gibbs, F.L.S., F.E.S. 



Read at Watford, Sth December, 1896. 



PLATE III. 



The pair of elm -trees at the intersection of Victoria Street 

 with Upper Lattimore Road are the oldest, and until this year 

 were the finest, arboreal specimens belonging to the Corporation of 

 St. Albans. There are several elms of the same age in various 

 parts of the city, namely, on land for sale off Beaconsfield Koad, 

 on private ground on the east side of Hattield Road, at the north 

 boundary of Clarence Park, on the St. Peter's Park estate, and on 

 St. Germain's Farm, St. Michael's, within the walls of the ancient 

 city of Verulamium. There are many others outside the city 

 boundary, as on the north side of Hatfield Road near the Cemetery, 

 at St. Stephen's, and on the Redbourn side of St. Albans. 



All these trees appear to have at one time been hedgerow 

 timber, planted simultaneously by the lords of Gorhambury and 

 Althoi-pe — the Earl of Verulam and Earl Spencer, K.G. There 

 are trees of the same age on the south-east boundary of the lawn 

 at Porter's Park, Shenley, which, I have been informed, were 

 planted by the celebrated English Admiral, Earl Howe, during his 

 possession of that delightful estate. Probably Earl Howe prompted 

 the owners of neighbouring estates to plant timber trees. Be that 

 as it may, it is a remarkable circumstance that all the English 

 elms ( Ulmus campestris) of stateliness and grandeur in the city of 

 St. Albans and its environs appear to be of the same age. There 

 are also some elm-trees of the same age on the Marshall'swick 

 estate, and in the hedgerows on Beaumont's Farm, but those in the 

 " Avenue " belong to a more recent date. 



Earl Howe — one of the highest of the great sea-captains of 

 Britain — was born in 1725, and died in 1799. During his resi- 

 dence at Porter's Park he added a morning-room to the mansion, 

 in imitation of a captain's cabin, with a southern and western out- 

 look, and on the south-east of the lawn he planted the elm-trees, 

 which, from their size and other characteristics, appear to be con- 

 temporaneous with others at Newberries, Radlett ; with the two in 

 Victoria Street ; and with those mentioned on the estates of the 

 Earl of Verulam and Earl Spencer. The age, therefore, of these 

 trees, is not more than 150 years, even from the seed. Few of the 

 trees exceed twelve feet in circumference, or about four feet in 

 diameter, at three feet from the ground. All the trees, except the 

 one which has just perished, arc remarkably healthy and vigorous, 



