BOTANICAL INFORMATION. 157 
Sida is the state of Oak after lying under water for six centuries and 
a half. 
Our second example is of Oak exposed to the vicissitudes of the at- 
mosphere for a still greater number of years, and yet sound and hard, 
except from the attack of insects. The wood in question at one 
time constituted part of the walls of a church at Greenstead, Essex ; 
which church has recently been condemned, in consequence of the 
serious inroads made in its otherwise perfect timbers by the Pinus, 
a species of insect notorious for its rapid and destructive habits. This 
curious Church has been long known to antiquarians, being identified 
as the original shrine of St. Edmund, which was erected by the monks in 
the year 1010, the body of the canonized monarch resting at this place 
on its return from London to Bury, whence it had been removed for 
safety on an attack of the Danes. An account of its early history formed 
the subject of a paper by Mr. Burkitt, read at a recent meeting of 
the British Archeological Association, when records were quoted estab- 
lishing its identity. Drawings and plans were exhibited, showing 
the fe of the original shrine, which from time to time had been 
greatly altered to adapt it for a modern church. Its construction was 
extremely simple, and consisted of Oak trees split in two, and fastened 
together with wooden pins to a plate and sill. These split trees, 
placed upright and fitting close, formed the four walls. On the demo- 
lition of the church, the worm-eaten wood was removed ; but a con- 
siderable portion, which was in an extraordinarily sound state, has been 
restored. 
Such is the account recently published of the materials of this struc- 
ture, which weathered the storms of nearly 840 years. Portions of the 
sound wood were lately presented to the Museum by Robert Bevan, 
Esq., of Bury St. Edmund’s. 
TOASTED Grains of India. 
Among the many curious objects lately presented to the Museum of 
the Royal Gardens of Kew, are the following, from our valued friend 
and correspondent J. R. Stocks, Esq., of Scinde, under the name of 
“ toasted grains," and with the following notes. 
