AND ITS FAMOUS TREES. 193 



of 40 foot ; it is only 1 1 feet six inches iu circumference, and its 

 age is taken as about 175 years. 



I may mention that a distinction is made by foresters between 

 what they call a " Maiden " and what they designate a " Trained 

 Tree." The former has never been moved. It stands where the 

 acorn from which it sprang was first dropped. It also has never 

 been browsed, or cut for food for the deer. This seems to be really 

 the original meaning of the terra " Verte^^ (rights of Verte and 

 Venison), a cutting down of green branches for the deer in the 

 winter. As the foresters' peniuisite lay in the branches when 

 browsed, the trees suffered sadly from wanton clipping. The 

 latter, the trained tree, was reared somewhere else. It began life 

 in some nursery, and then, at a suitable age, by a careful selection, 

 was brought out and planted in its present place. It follows that 

 while the interest of the maiden-tree is greater, the growth and 

 size of the promoted tree are more developed. The greatest height 

 which Mr. Menzies claims for a maiden-oak is 65 feet, while the 

 height of a young oak which is I believe a trained tree is 1 00 feet. 



I shall confine myself in this paper almost entirely to oaks, 

 so I will just say here of other trees that they are to be found 

 also in the forest and park. The beeches are very fine, and are 

 only less interesting than the oaks. I was myself surprised to hear 

 the very full age claimed for the beech. Admiring one beech 

 which seemed to me in the very prime and vigour of its existence, 

 I asked the deputy-surveyor what he considered to be the age of 

 that tree, and he said " 400 years." Then, appealing to the 

 woodward who was following but had not heard the surveyor's 

 figures, he received an exact confirmation of his estimate. In Mr. 

 Menzies' book an old pollard beech is reckoned to be of the age 

 of nearly 1000 years. This tree, though now only a shell, does 

 not think of dying in our time. The top is vigorous, and it has 

 hopes of seeing its 1000th birthday. There is another beech in 

 the forest which boasts to have branches 100 feet in height. 



I hardly know whether I shall reckon among the royal trees, 

 or simply among the veterans of the forest, a tree that goes by the 

 name of the Conqueror's Oak. "Well ; it is so complete a wreck 

 that we will treat it simply as a veteran. It stands near Cran- 

 bourne Tower, and at present within an inclosure, but there is a 

 talk of moving the fence that the public may admire, or, I may 

 say, discover the grand old tree. I cannot find any pretence of a 

 legend which connects it with the Conqueror. It may well have 

 stood in his reign, and so may some others that are with us, but 

 only as relics of their former selves. It is 37 feet in circumference, 

 but one half of the tree is dead. The noteworthy fact is that the 

 bark has turned and wound round the other half, as if Nature, 

 despairing of preserving the whole of the trunk, had evacuated one 

 half and intrenched herself in the other. This portion is quite alive, 

 being nourished by the full embrace of the rind, and is sending out 

 healthy shoots which have promise of leaves and branches for next 

 year. ISi ot far from this tree stands the largest trunk that I know, 



