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at 5 feet from the grouml is 24 feet G inches, and at 3 feet from the ground 

 25 feet 5 inches. On the E. side the branches spread 29 feet from the trunk, 

 and on the W. 34 feet. 



Next comes the old tree at Yazor, which lost one of its largest boughs 

 about five years ago. This is 22 feet in girth at 3 feet from the ground. 



One of the four magnificent trees in the churchyard at Leinthall, between 

 Wigmore and Ludlow, measures 20 feet in girth, and the smallest 15. The 

 spot is well worth a visit. The church is very small and very old. It stands 

 in a secluded spot at a little distance from the village and from the road. Two 

 yew trees stand at the W. and two at the E. of the church, far surpassing the 

 bell turret in height, and all but hiding it from view. The huge spreading 

 branches rival those of the cedar in their graceful sweep, and are interlaced 

 with each other in the most curious and intricate manner. 



Four trees, as fine as those at Leinthall, stand in the churchyard at 

 Cusop, near Hay, not above a mile from the station which we passed this 

 morning. They stand N.E., S.E., N.W., and S.W. of the church, but not 

 at the same precise distance from the church and from each other which the 

 trees at Leinthall do. The largest of the four is the one at the S.E. corner of 

 the church, and measures 21ft. 2in. in girth at 3ft. from the ground. Above 

 that the bole expands, and at 4ft. it measures 22ft. lOin. The trunk of this 

 tree is perfectly sound and solid, and fiee from the stiff bristling twigs 

 which disfigure those of so many trees, and make accurate measurements of 

 them all but impossible. That to the S.W. of the church, near the porch, is 

 perhaps even larger, andjdecidedly more picturesque and luxuriant. It is a 

 sound and vigorous tree, measuring at 3ft. from the ground 20ft. Sin. in girth, 

 and at 4ft. considerably more. The branches spread in one direction 26ft. 

 outwards from the trunk. Assuming the calculation to be correct, which 

 assigns a century for every foot in diameter of the trunk of a yew tree, neither 

 of these trees can be less than 700 years old ; and it is interesting to notice 

 that this canies us back to about the same date at which the |church appears 

 to have been built. 



In fact, it is chiefly in the oldest and most secluded church-yards, such 

 as this, that the finest yew-trees are to be found. Perhaps, as they appear 

 to have been in this case, and in that of Leinthall, they were planted when 

 the church was built ; perhaps it is only that the trees have been allowed to 

 remain, because the church itself has been little altered, and the neighbour- 

 hood has undergone but few changes, and so, both church and trees have 

 escaped by reason of their obscurity. 



I have memoranda of about twenty other trees in a paper, which will 

 be laid before you. The details of so many measurements would be dry and 

 uninteresting : a visit to the trees themselves would hardly ever be so. Most 

 of them are picturesque objects in themselves ; many of them stand in the 

 midst of striking scenery or picturesque and curions buildings. The good taste 



