STATE AND PROSPECTS OF ARBORICULTURE IN HAMPSHIRE. 527 
The spread of its branches is 23 yards, and it is otherwise remark- 
able for its numerous natural ties, caused by the branches growing 
into each other ; soil, clay, on the chalk. 
The “ Blacksmith’s Beech” stands on the west side of the 
Romsey and Winchester road, 13 yards from the same, and at 
about 3 miles from Romsey. The circumference is 22 ft. 3 in., 
and it divides into two gigantic limbs at 5 ft. up; the west limb 
has a girth of 15 ft., and the other 13 ft. Both ascend about 
22 ft., then branch into two, then many. The diameter of the 
spread of branches is 105 ft., and the sheer height is 110 ft. The 
** Blacksmith’s Beech,” whether we consider the large circum- 
ference of stem, the great height it has attained, the area of the 
ground covered with its branches, or its evenly balanced sym- 
metrical head, must be placed among the noblest specimens of the 
beech in Great Britain. Twenty-three yards further north, on 
the south edge of a clump, is one with a circumference of 8 ft., a 
bole of 60 ft. as straight as a gun-barrel, and, it is hardly an 
exaggeration to say, nearly as smooth; they call it the ‘“ Black- 
smith’s Fowling-piece.” It is difficult to conceive that this straight, 
cylindrical shaft, without a branch or the appearance of one for 
60 ft, was once a small zig-zag, branchy tree, but such is the 
habit of the beech when young. The soil is a sandy, gravelly 
yellow mould, on the Lower Bagshot beds. 
In Paultons Park, near Romsey, by Robin’s Coppice, is one 
with a circumference of 17 ft. ; and another at Wherwell Priory, 
near Andover, girthing 16 ft. 94 in. One in “Round Bush 
Copse,” “‘ Harewood Forest,” measures 15 ft. 4 in. 
I have just one more to notice. In Little Somborne Park (Sir 
F. Bathurst) is one with a circumference of 9 ft. 6 in.; and at a 
distance of 104 ft. there is another with a girth of 2 ft. 4 in.; 
this, the smaller one, at a height of 27 ft. from the ground, grows 
into, and is entirely absorbed by, a bough of the larger one; after 
this junction, and it is complete, the bough is larger, showing 
that it derives and makes use of the nourishment from the smaller 
one. It is difficult to account for this freak of nature, or to say 
whether some cunning hand has not been at work here ; but 
whichever it is, we will name it the ‘ Banyan Beech.” 
Exm will rank next to Beech in the quantity grown in the 
county, although it is almost entirely confined to hedgerows, 
clumps, and avenues, and forms no woods of any extent. There 
VOL. XI., PART III. 2N 
