OLD AND REMARKABLE TREES ON HOLWOOD ESTATE, 315 



These trees are generally destitute of branclies to 40 or 50 feet 

 up. In nearly every case the stems are perfectly straight, and 

 with a very gradual taper, this being due to growing in close 

 contact with other pines, and not allowed room to develop side 

 branches. The bark on the stems is rough and rugged, and being 

 of a pleasant light-brown colour, is readily distinguishable from that 

 of any other tree. The soil is sandy, or rather gravelly, with a 

 small admixture of peat, to a depth of a few inches. 



On the Eoman Camp are many specimens of the cluster pine, 

 probably of the same age as the Scots firs among which they grow, 

 and if so, were, in all probability, planted by Pitt when he owned 

 the estate. One of the largest has a stem which girths 7 feet 10 

 inches and 7 feet 6 inches at 3 feet and 5 feet from the ground, is 

 67 feet in height, and contains 78 feet of wood. The Scots firs 

 are not nearly so large as the cluster pines, and thus show that 

 the Pinaster is by far the most rapid timber-producing tree. The 

 soil of which the camp is composed is principally a rough gravel. 



Growing on the lawn in front of Holwood House is another old 

 and weather-beaten cluster pine, which, with its mop head and 

 branchless stem, affords a striking contrast to the weU-clothed and 

 wide-spreading Cedars of Lebanon and evergreen oaks near which 

 it stands. 



No. 16. Holly. — This tree is everywhere abundant, but particu- 

 larly at Hollydale. The largest, however, is one growing in the 

 grounds at Keston Lodge. At 3 feet and 5 feet from the ground 

 the stem of this giant holly measures 9 feet 4 inches and 9 feet 

 2 inches in circumference, and the branches cover a space 33 feet 

 in diameter. The stem is enveloped in ivy, and the tree has 

 suffered severely from the effects of the wind, the top being com- 

 pletely broken off, as well as many of the larger side branches. The 

 height is 32 feet, and the tree is perfectly healthy, and will no 

 doubt survive in its present shattered condition for many years. 

 It stands close to the gravel path leading from Hayward's Lodge 

 to Keston Lake. At Hollydale a part of an old oak wood is 

 almost all hollies, many of them being from 40 feet to 50 feet in 

 height, and girthing fuUy 5 feet at a yard from the ground. The 

 holly is quite naturalised at Holwood, seedlings springing up with 

 the greatest freedom in all directions. 



No. 17. Birch. — The birch does not attain a large size at 

 Holwood, the finest trees, with one or two exceptions, being at the 

 Roman Camp and alongside the lakes. Immediately to the right 



