544 STATE AND PROSPECTS OF ARBORICULTURE IN TIAMPSHIRE. 
25 ft., and a spread of branches from north to south of 38 ft. ; 
soil, sandy clay, on the Bracklesham beds. 
On the north side of the drive leading from the blacksmith’s 
shop, Ampfield, near Romsey, to the fields, is one with a cireum- 
ference of 6 ft. 4 in., or only 2 in. less than the one at Dogmers- 
field ; the bole is 6 ft., and the sheer height 25 ft. It has hardly 
any spread to its branches, consequently is not so fine a specimen as 
the first ; soil, gravelly clay, on the Lower Bagshot. 
I have selected the above two as having the largest girth, but 
many are more symmetrical in form, girthing from 4 ft. downwards, 
and attaining a sheer height of 50 ft. A very fine variegated holly 
stands in front of a farm house in the village of Longstock, near 
Stockbridge. It had a girth of 4 ft. 64 in., and a height of 30 ft. ; 
soil, alluvial, on the chalk. 
The Scots Fir (Pinus sylvestris) woods and plantations are of 
large extent in the north and south divisions, but it does not like 
the chalk. Many of the bare heaths throughout the county have 
been covered with naturally grown trees. 
Canon Kingsley, who was rector of Eversley in this county, says, 
in his ‘‘ Winter Garden :” “I respect them, those Scotch firs. I 
delight in their forms, from James the First’s gnarled giants up in 
Bramshill Park down to the little green pyramids which stand up 
out of the heather, triumphant over tyranny and the strange woes 
of an untoward youth. Seven years, on an average, have most of 
them spent in ineffectual attempts to become a foot high,—nibbled 
off by hares, trodden down by cattle, cut down by turf parers, 
seeing hundreds of their brethren cut up and carried off in turf fuel, 
—they are as gnarled and stubbed near the ground as an old thorn 
bush in a pasture.” Notwithstanding all these difficulties, the 
Scots fir, as has already been said, has covered many a barren 
moorland in the county. The price may be stated at from 8d. to 
10d. per foot. 
Now for a glance at Canon Kingsley’s “gnarled giants” in 
Bramshill Park, which form several charming avenues, and consist 
of some very fine specimens. The tradition is that they were 
planted by James the Sixth of Scotland and First of England ; and, 
to again quote Canon Kingsley, ‘when he built Bramshill for 
Raleigh’s hapless pet, Henry the Prince, or whatever may have 
been the date of their re-introduction, here they are, and no one 
can turn them out.’ The largest is in the north-west row of an 
