329 



Jesse in his "Scenes and Tales of Country Life" [1844] states that 

 Mistletoe then grew on an Oak, near Godalming in Surrey ; at St. Dials, 

 near Monmouth ; near Usk; and also at Penporthlenny, Goitre, Monmouthshire. 

 I have been unable to learn the fate of the Godalming Oak, but through enquiries 

 which have been made for me with great diligence and perseverance, I am able to 

 state positively that the Mistletoe-bearing Oaks in the three Monmouthshire 

 localities named, no longer exist. " The Oak at St. Dials which bore Mistletoe, 

 was cut down by the bailiff about twelve years since, and the ovvner of the estate, 

 Sir Lionel Pilkington, dismissed him immediately for doing so." The Mistletoe 

 Oak near Usk, can be heard of up to five years since, and shortly afterwards it is 

 reported to have been cut down with its neighbours. The loss of the Goitre ex- 

 ample, is thus sadly accounted for by a gentleman who kindly wrote about it— 

 " I remember about 25 years ago there was a very large bush of Mistletoe growing 

 in an Oak in the parish of Goitre, but it was most sacrilegiously cut down and hung 

 up over the President's chair at the Cymrygyddian held at Abergavenny. I saw 

 it there myself as, no doubt, hundreds of others did also.' '[J. M. N., April 19th, 

 1864.] 



In 1817, Mr. Dickson, at the Linnaean Society, stated that he had seen Mistle- 

 toe growing in an Oak four miles from Maidstone, by the side of the Medway, 

 but since this has never been recently confirmed, it has most probably ceased to 

 exist. 



The late Mr. Loudon, also, was shewn it in an Oak on the estate of the late 

 Miss Woods of Shopwyke, near Chichester, but this tree can no longer be heard of. 

 It has doubtless passed away with its observer, and the proprietor of the land it 

 grew upon. 



Mr. Dovaston, in Loudon's Magazine of Natural History, (Vol. v. p. 203) says 

 he saw it at the Marquis of Anglesea's Park, at Plas Newydd, Isle of Anglesea, 

 "hanging almost over a very grand Druidical cromlech." (Lees' "Botanical 

 Looker Out ");but this not only wants recent confirmation, but is indeed denied 

 by the statement in the same book, that Mistletoe is not now to be found on the 

 Island. 



The following examples are interesting, though they have never been publicly 

 recorded, nor are they any longer in existence :— 



The late Sir Hungerford Hoskyns, Bart., of Harewood, in this County, 

 saw the Mistletoe growing on an Oak in the parish of St. Margarets, near Moor- 

 hampton, and used to tell the anecdote that when staying at Moccas, he men- 

 tioned the fact to Sir George Cornewall Bart.,, who would not believe it. As usual, 

 in those days, a wager was to decide the point, and the next morning, both gentle- 

 men rode off to the tree. Since Sir George paid the £10 we may be quite sure the 

 Mistletoe was there upon the Oak, though it has never since been heard of. 



It formerly grew on an Oak in Rockingham Forest, near Moorshay Lawn, 

 Northamptonshire, where the tre« was notched for the convenience of climbing up 

 to get the Mistletoe. (J. Percival Smith, Esq.) 



