!rhe EattiBOod Oak, the noted old tree whicli stands on the high road from 

 Hereford to Ledbury, some 80 or 100 yards distant from the Montrose Oak, 

 was next visited -with much interest. These lines of the poet Cowper were 

 specially applicable to the condition of this fine old tree : — 



' ' The spring 



Finds thee not lest alive to her sweet force 

 Than yonder upstarts of the neighbouring wood 

 So much thy juniors, who their birth received 

 Half a millenium since the date of tliine." 



This tree is very picturesque in growth, and though at 5ft. from the ground 

 it only measures 20ft. llin. it increases in size very much before the boughs are 

 given off, and has a very large circumference at the surface of the ground. It 

 is a pollard tree of the iatermediate variety, and long past its prime. It is 

 hollow in trunk and in some of its bramches. Some gipsy children set it on fire 

 about 15 years ago, when the fire engines from Ledbury were fetched to put it 

 out. Its hoUow wounds have, however, beea carefully boarded up, and three 

 of its Large branches are supported by iron frames and chains, placed there some 

 years since by Lady Emily Foley. The tree, however, is still very luxuriant, 

 and spreads its branches to a diameter N. and S. of 21^ yards and E. and "W. 

 of 18 yards, and wiU yet doubtless continue to be a landmai-k for many 

 generations of men. 



The route now lay across some pleasant meadows sprinkled copiously 

 with many varieties of orchis. Orchis morio in deep purple, in pale rose, and iu 

 white, — Orchis mascula the meadow orchis, and Orch's m/iculata the spotted 

 orchis. G. C. Martin got a fine specimen of the frog orchis, Habcnaria viridis 

 and the butterfly orchis, H, hifolia ; and some spikes of the twayblade, Listera 

 ovata, were afterwards seen shooting up for blossom. 



Suddenly a cry of enthusiasm is heard, for D. K. Harrison, Esq., has 

 come upon a fairy ring. It formed nearly the half segment of a circle 40 feet 

 in diameter, and was abundantly supplied with the true St. George's mushroom, 

 Agaricus gambosus. Most of them were getting old, but still there were plenty 

 of young ones, which were quickly gathered for the dinner table. In the same 

 field Ehnes Y. Steele, Esq., called attention to another fairy ring of unusuul 

 size and completeness, marked out chiefly by a rank growth of grass. It had 

 a diameter of 75 feet, and here and there in the circle a matured specimen of 

 the Puff-baU, Lycoperdon adatuin, seemed to indicate its particular fungus 

 occupant. Whilst these were being examined a shower came on, which soon 

 became a sharp hailstorm, that drove all the naturalists to the shelter of a 

 splendid hawthorn hedge, almost overpoweringly beautiful from the scent of 

 its splendid sprays of blossom. It lasted for some minutes. Let us take the 

 pause to name the other funguses found in the day's walk. A small ring or 

 two of the Fairy King fimgus, Marasmius oreades, which were also called upon 

 to supply their contingent to the dinner table ; the edible A, arvensis ; and 

 the Agaricus Drijophilus ; Coprinns striaius; and the Agaricus fascicularis mora 

 abundantly than any, were all that was noticed. 



