221 



10. — ^The irruption of tourists, and especially the ravages of fern and orchid 



collectors. 



11. — The wilful and wanton destruction of life for mere amusement or mischief. 



Perhaps as regards its general aspect, there is not very much alteration which 

 would strike a visitor to Ross, after a lapse of 30 years. If he stood on the Pros- 

 pect, or on WUton Bridge, Wilton Castle would present much the same appearance 

 as of old. The old oak in the centre of the Oak meadow, in 1849 a flourishing tree, 

 measuring 29 feet at 3 feet from the ground, is now a ruin, having been burnt in 

 the winter of 1849-50, and in its present state the lines addressed to the Yardley 

 oak might seem appropriate : — 



" Time made thee what thou wast, king of the woods ; 

 And Time hath made thee what thou art — a cave 

 For owls to roost on. Once thy sjireading boughs 

 O'erhung the champaign ; and the num'rous flocks 

 That grazed it stood beneath that ample cope 

 Uncrowded, yet safe shelter'd from the storm. 

 No flock frequents thee now. Thou hast outliv'd 

 Thy popularity, and art become 

 (Unless verse rescue thee awhile) a thing 

 Forgotten, as the foliage of thy youth." 



COWPKB. 



The magnificent old poplars by the side of the rope-walk and old Wilton Road 

 are still in good preservation. The largest measures 14 ft. 10 in. in circumference 

 at five feet from the ground, and possibly few, if any, finer specimens of these trees 

 exist in England. 



Many of the elms in adjoining meadows have been blown down, eleven in the 

 night of February 21, 1861 ; but the growth of younger trees has since then, to 

 some extent, replaced them. 



A perceptible alteration in the course of the river Wye, still rapidly going on, 

 has probably brought the stream some 17 yards nearer Ross than it was in 1851. 

 Considerable attention was paid to this subject by Mr. Richardson, engineer, in 

 1857. It appears, from an old survey made by John Green, in 1756, that the old 

 oak was 52 yards further from the bank of the river in 1857 than it was in 1756 — so 

 that it is supposed that in the reign of Henry VIII. the tree was a sapling on the 

 bank of the river, and still further back, that it flowed past the whole length of the 

 caistle walls, having originally formed one of the defences of the fortress. 



On looking the other way, our visitor would miss the row of 13 fine Lombardy 

 poplars in the Old Maids' Walk, adjoining the rectory garden. The vitality of 

 these trees was so sapped by the three cold winters, 1879-81, that after two of their 

 number had been blown down, it was thought safer to remove the rest, and with 

 them a conspicuous object and landmark for miles around. The elms in the church- 

 yard would appear much dilapidated, for although they have probably increased 

 some 18 inches in girth, or at the rate of rather more than half-an-inch per year, 

 many of the boughs have been broken off in severe gales, and others have been 

 lopped as a matter of precaution. They are still, however, many of them, very 

 handsome trees. None of them appear to have been struck with hghtning. The 

 spire of the church was bo injured by the great thunder-storm of July 6th, 1852, 



