8o Vew- Trees of Great Britain and Ireland 



trees of each circle may all coalesce. We should 

 then have an apparent age of 450 years, for, by 

 that time, the girth would have increased to 18 feet. 

 Mr. Hutchison {op. cit.) mentions a similar fact as 

 occurring on Inch Lonaig, Loch Lomond. ' Many 

 of these yews,' he says, 'when they have begun to 

 decay, have sent up shoots close to the old trunk. 

 A number of these coalesce and form at last a 

 complete new trunk, inside of which the old one 

 continues to decay.' 



Trees becoming solid through the formation of 

 roots in the centre — Binder, Mamhilad, Portbury, 

 Ankerwyke, Kyre, Llanthewy-Bach, Stanstead, 

 Bettwys-Newydd, Breamore, etc. — are apt to show 

 a diminished rate of increase, or even complete 

 arrest of growth, owing to the fact that the major 

 part of the nutriment is carried by them to the tree, 

 and thus the increase takes place within, and the 

 external growth is correspondingly decreased. In 

 some instances a large cavity has become solid 

 through this kind of growth. In the case of the 

 Mamhilad tree, a distinct central trunk has formed, 

 attached to the outer part by two or three narrow 

 connections. 



