OLD AXD REMARKABLE TREES ON HOLWOOD ESTATE. 313 



lent health, and forming wood rapidly, the soil on which it is 

 growing being a stiff but rich loam. 



No. 14. Yew. — Standing alone in the South Park to the north- 

 east of Holwood is a noble specimen of the Yew, rendered conspi- 

 cuous by its densely-branched and wide-spreading head, clothed 

 with the healthiest of foliage. At 2 feet from the ground the stem 

 has a girth of 20 feet 5 inches, and at 5 feet of 14 feet I inch, 

 while the branches cover a space 57 feet in diameter. Ai'ound 

 this handsome tree is a neat iron fence, with a small gate leading 

 to a rustic seat, which, during the heat of summer, forms a deli- 

 ciously cool retreat. The soil is not of the best quality, it being a 

 gravelly and clayey loam. Another noteworthy yew is growing on 

 the south side of the Five Island Pond, its roots reaching the water. 

 At 3 feet and 5 feet up the stem girths 13 feet 1 inch and 13 feet, 

 the height being 42 feet, and the diameter of branches 42 feet. 

 This is a very picturesque tree, the curiously gnarled stem giving 

 it an aged and weird appearance. 



Not far from this tree is one of the most peculiar cases of the 

 junction of the stems of two trees — an oak and a yew — that has 

 ever come under my notice. The combined stem of the yew and 

 oak, which is of a perfectly normal shape throughout its entire 

 length, is 7 feet 1 1 inches in girth at a yard from the ground, and 

 7 feet 10 inches at 5 feet up. The yew I'ises to 15 feet in heioht, 

 and has a branch-spread of 36 feet ; while the oak, whose height is 

 35 feet, has a diameter of branches of 54 feet. Both stems are so 

 amalgamated into one, that were it not for the difference in colour 

 of the barks, the point of junction could hardly be detected. For 

 fully 5 feet up, at which point two large limbs are sent out by the 

 oak, the yew takes up from 2 feet 2 inches to 2 feet 5 inches of 

 the total girth of the stem, but how far the wood of the yew 

 extends inwards has not been ascertained. At 2 feet from the main 

 stem the two large limbs sent out by the oak girth respectively 

 4 feet 7 inches and 4 feet 9 inches, and as they grow on opposite 

 sides — north and south — of the trunk, have an appearance that is 

 very peculiar. The yew stem almost encircles the northern limb, 

 and with it is completely amalgamated, the barks being quite level 

 at their points of junction. When viewed from the public path, 

 from which it is 11 yards distant, these combined trees present a 

 curious appearance, particularly when the oak is destitute of leaves, 

 the commingled deciduous and evergreen branches being then most 

 noticeable. How this union of the two trees, but particularly an 



