304 TRANSACTIONS OF ROYAL SCOTTISH ARBORICULTURAL SOCIETY. 



the unwieldy branches are upheld clearly show that this iirinieval 

 oak is carefully tended by its worthy owner. At 3 feet from the 

 ground the partially hollow stem is 16 feet 10 inches in girth, 

 while at 5 feet it ramifies into three ponderous limbs, one of which 

 bends backwards from the main stem in an abrupt manner, and 

 runs nearly parallel with the ground for 15 feet. Here it abruptly 

 stops, and sends upwards for nearly 30 feet several large and 

 almost perfectly straight branches. The girth of this limb at a 

 yard from the main stem is 8 feet 7 inches. 



Another curiously irregular oak, growing nearer to the pond, 

 girths, at 3 feet from the ground, 17 feet 8 inches. At 4| feet up 

 the bole terminates, and there sends out several tree-like branches, 

 one of which bends right backwards from the main stem and enters 

 the ground at 5^ feet therefrom. This branch is 9 feet 11 inches 

 in girth near the point where it diverges from the bole, and 

 curiously enough a large root, fully 20 inches in diameter, runs 

 along the surface of the ground and comes in contact with th.e 

 branch at a distance of 6 feet 9 inches from where the former is 

 emitted by the stem. 



"Pitt's Oak" (Qicercus Bobur pedunculata). — This eminently 

 historic oak, which stands within a stone-throw of Holwood 

 House, and without the garden wall, is in a very healthy and 

 thriving condition, and will, should accident not befall it, live for 

 many years to perpetuate the memory of the great statesman. It 

 was Mr Pitt's habit to sit and read beneath the spreading branches 

 of this stately oak. The tree stands upon a conical mound, part 

 of the old encampments, and within a short distance of two 

 magnificent though half-hidden cedars of Lebanon. The dimen- 

 sions are as follows ; — At a yard from the ground level the stem 

 gii'ths 20 feet 1 inch, and at 8 feet it divides into four massive 

 limbs, the two largest of which girth 9 feet 6 inches and 9 feet 

 4 inches at 2 feet from point of juncture with the main stem. 

 The branch-spread is wide in proportion to the tree's height, 

 covering as it does a space of 57 feet in diameter, while the total 

 height is only about 36 feet. 



The stem is hollow from 4 feet upwards to the point where the 

 branches begin to ramify, but the tree is otherwise in a very 

 healthy condition, as is clearly demonstrated by the rich abun- 

 dance of glaucous green foliage, as well as by the numerous 

 strong shoots that are annually emitted by the stem and larger 

 branches. 



