93 



The great botanical "find" of the day, however, from its delicacy and 



gracefulness, was the Ivy-leaved Bell-flower, Campanula hederacea, which is lovely 



even to the commonest observer, and which, whenever it is met with, recalls a host 



of past rambles in secluded spots of Alpine beauty which it so especially affects. 



The common round-leaved Blue Bell is happily as common and conspicuous as it is 



pretty. It may be open to question, whether any sprays of it, seen to-day peeping 



from behind the bushes, comported themselves with our "Sweet Girl graduates," 



as Scott describes it to have done under the fairy footsteps of EUen — 



E'en the light Hare-hell raised its head, 

 Elastic from her airy tread. 



The Ivy-leaved Bell-flower is so much smaller that its attractions must be sought 

 for. Many botanists and poets have shown a fanciful leaning in favour of some 

 special plant, and Mr. Edwin Lees, in his very interesting work, " The Botanical 

 Looker-out," says for himself " I think from its delicate beauty and its association 

 in my mind with oases of bright thought, I should fix upon the Ivy-leaved Bell- 

 flower " (p. 151). The veteran botanist himself took the lead to-day, and it waa 

 highly appropriate that his favourite flower should be in attendance. 



The whistle had been frantically blowing for some time before the delighted 

 botanists could be persuaded to quit this flowery oasis, at length, however, passing 

 up through groups of hollies, crab-trees, thorns, oaks, and beech trees, the Speech 

 House was soon reached and the welcome given to those members who arrived 

 from other directions. The president of the Club, the Rev. H. W. Phillott, was 

 unfortunately prevented from attending, but his place was very ably supplied by 

 the Eev. R. H. Cobbold. Under his direction, measure in hand, the whole party 

 plunged within the sylvan covert, which is happily here devoid of underwood, and 

 admits of easy, enjoyable exploration. A large beech tree, seen from the grassy 

 terrace, was first approached : it gave the girth of 16 feet at five feet from the 

 ground, and others afterwards met with measured 12 ft. 4 in., and 14 ft. 2 in. 

 One that had just fallen girthed 14 ft. 6 in., and as the saw had cut its way 

 smoothly its age was pretty nearly ascertained, by counting the annular rings of 

 growth in the wood ; 123 annular rings were counted, but as the bole was a little 

 shaky in its centre, and a little imperfect at the margin, another 20 years should 

 be added, making its approximate age 143 years. The largest beech tree in the 

 forest stands about half-a-mile east of the Speech House, and a noble tree it is. 

 It measured at five feet from the ground 17 ft. 4 in. in the circumference, and its 

 height was roughly estimated at from 90 to 100 feet. The High Beeches, some 

 two or three miles distant, are still more lofty, and two of them are very grand, 

 but the largest of them only gave a circumference of IG feet. 



One chief feature of the forest round the Speech House, and it is one so 

 peculiar as to deserve especial notice, is the existence of numerous very aged holly- 

 trees. Useless as timber they have been left in the wood to assume the grotesque 

 appearance of extreme age. Some are hollow, some are very tall, some are embowered 

 in ivy, many consist of several stems, from the death possibly of the one original 

 trunk, and almost all of them are very picturesque, with curiously contorted 



