46 G TEAXS ACTIONS AND PllOCEEDINGS OF THE [Sess. lvii. 



Oaks above 20 feet in girtli must be numerous in 

 England. To take a single locality, in a series of measure- 

 ments of oaks at or near Moccas Park, Herefordshire* 

 (comprising forty-eight above 15 feet in girth at 5 feet 

 up), there are no less than eleven in the park, and in 

 other parts of the country there are eighteen more, all 

 girthing 20 feet or upwards. These measurements were 

 taken by "a commissioner" for the Club, and they are 

 confirmed by an unsigned list among my father's papers, 

 in which, although the results do not strictly agree, they 

 are near enough to show the substantial accuracy of both. 

 Even 30 feet is not an extremely rare girth for tlie 

 English oak, as, in addition to the Cowthorpe, Newland, 

 and three of the Moccas Park trees, I have found records 

 of the following: — 



In Hekefokdshire (Trans. Woolhope Club, 1870), all 

 at 5 feet up — The Eosemaund Oak, 34 feet; Brampton 

 Brian Park Oak, 30 feet; Croft Oak, 34 feet; Nonupton 

 Oak, 33 feet (at 4i feet), 50 feet at the ground, destroyed 

 by fire, 1851 ; Cowarne Court Oak, 37 feet 8 inches, 

 owing partly to a protuberance, rapidly narrows ; Newbury 

 Oak, 31 feet, destroyed. 



Oak in Holt Eouest, Bentley, 34 feet at 7 feet, a large 

 excrescence at 5 and G feet making measurement there 

 unfair (R. Marsham, 1759). 



Fairtop Oak, Epping Forest, 31 feet 9 inches at 5 feet 

 (P. Marsham, 1754). 



Earl of Tiianet's Oak, Whinfield Park, Westmoreland, 

 31 feet 9 inches at 5 feet (U. Marsham, 1765). 



The Selborne Oak, dcscribiKl by Gilbert White a.? 

 girthing 34 feet at 7 feet, with a stem of 16 feet, con- 

 taining 1000 culjic feet of timber. 



The Queen VAAZAnKiii Oak, Huntingfield, Suffolk, 34 

 feet at 5 feet (Strut t). 



Not far short of these comes Magog, Yardly, 54 feet 

 4 inches at the roots, and 3 1 feet 3 inches at 3 feet up 

 (Strutt) ; and a line solitary oak in a field near ijristol 

 whi'^'li ] foiiiid to girth 28 feet at 5 feet up. 

 * Trans, of tlie Woolhope Club, 1870. 



