152 ENGLISH BOTANV. 



• ■ The last acorn found on Heme's Oak was p^ven to the late Sir David Dundas, of 

 Richmond, and was i)Lanted l>y him on liis estate in Wales, where it grew, and now 

 flourishes, and has a suitable inscription on it. 



In almost every county in England we have remarkable and historical oaks ; the 

 chronicles of most of which are given carefully in Loudon's " Arboretum." Some 

 are worthy of record on account of their size, others from association. There is the 

 Fairlop Oak, in Essex, which stood in an open space of Hainault Forest. The cir- 

 cumference of its trunk near the ground was forty-eight feet ; at three feet high it 

 measured thirty-six feet round ; and the short bole divided into eleven vast branches. 

 These boughs overspread an area 300 feet in circuit, and for many years a fair was 

 held beneath their shade, no booth of which was allowed to extend beyond it. This 

 celebrated festival owed its origin to the eccentricity of Daniel Day, commonly called 

 " Good Day," who, about 1720, was wont to invite his friends to dine with him, the 

 first Friday in July, on beans and bacon, under this venerable tree. From this cir- 

 cumstance becoming known, the public were attracted to the spot, and about 1725 

 the fair was established, and was held for many years on the 2nd of July in each year. 

 Mr. Day never failed to provide annually several sacks of beans, which he distributed, 

 with a proportionate quantity of bacon, from the hollowed trunk of the oak, to the 

 assembled crowd. This entertainment, however, Avas the cause of serious mischief to 

 the tree, and endeavours were made to preserve it. In 1 793 a board was afl&xed to 

 it, •with this inscription: " All good foresters are requested not to hurt this old tree, 

 a plaster haviag been lately applied to his wounds." Mr, Day had his coffin made of 

 one of the limbs of this tree, which was torn off in a storm, and dying in 17G7 at the 

 age of eighty-four, he was buried in Barking churchyard. The most fatal injury this 

 renowned tree received was from a party of cricketers, in June 1805, who carelessly 

 left a fire burning too near its trunk. The tree took fire, and in spite of all efforts to 

 extinguish it, was severely burnt. The high winds of February 1820 stretched this 

 forest patriarch on the ground, after having endured the storms of perhaps 1000 

 winters. Its remains were purchased by a builder, and from a portion thereof the 

 pulpit and reading desk in the new church of St, Pancras were constructed. 



In the New Forest, Hampshire, stood the oak near which "William Rufus was 

 slain. The tree has now perished, and a stone perpetuates its memory, Avith this 

 inscription : " Here stood the oak tree on which an arrow shot by Sir Walter Tyrell 

 at a stag glanced and struck King William II., surnamed Rufus, on the breast, 

 of which stroke he instantly died, on the 2nd of August, 1100." This stone was 

 erected in 1745 ; and it is said that in the reign of Charles II, the oak was paled 

 round by that monai'ch's command in order to its preservation. This tree appears 

 to have blossomed at Christmas, as did also another called the Cadenham Oak, in 

 the New Forest, Camden writes : " Having often heard of this oak, I took a ride 

 to see it on the 29th of December, 1781. Having had the account of its early 

 budding confirmed on the spot, I engaged one Michael Lawrence, who kept the ' White 

 Hart,' a small alehouse in the neighbourhood, to send me some of the leaves to 

 Kear's Hill, as soon as they should appear. The man, who had not the least doubt 

 about the matter, kept his word, and scut me several twigs on the 5th of January, 

 1782, a few hours after they were gathered. The leaves were fairly expanded, and 

 about an inch in length. From some of the buds tAvo leaves had unsheathed them- 

 selves, but in general only qpe." One of the young trees raised from this oak 

 possessed the same property, "The early spring of the Cadenham," Gilpin con- 

 tinues, " is of very short duration. The buds, after unfolding themselves, make no 

 further progress, but immediately shrink from the season and die. The tree con- 



