Mar. 1903.] BOTANICAL SOCIETY OF EDINBURGH 403 



A Cowthorpe man, named Gates, said : "The tree has shrunk very much iu 

 my time, and, iu shrinkiug, the tree has twisted— the eastern branches towards 

 the south." 



There is to be seen a circle all round the tree 14 ft. away from the bole, 

 showing that the soil was once thrown up about the bottom of the tree. 



Age of the tree estimated to be about 500 years. 



From an acorn borne by the celebrated old tree iu 1893, a young plant has 

 been reared and planted near its parent as a memorial. 



In forest trees the work of death and decay is first seen 

 at the extremities of the highest branches. These branches 

 in a dying tree lose their leaves and twigs, and the tree 

 becomes what is called stag-headed. This fact suggests 

 that death in the roots commences in the extremities also, 

 supposing the suggestion to be true, it is easy to understand 

 why old trees shrink and settle into the ground (Photo. 

 No. 5). The diagram is drawn on this supposition, and will 

 illustrate what we mean. 



Allow the figure under the year 1700 to represent the 

 roots of the Cowthorpe Oak at that time, and assuming that 

 the roots perish by decay at their extremities (as we know the 

 branches do), then by 1842 their decay will have shortened 

 them, probably to the dotted line anent that year, and will 

 thus have made room for a general sinking or subsidence of 

 the tree, the sinking of course being caused by the weight 

 of the tree. The subsidence will also be gradual, according 

 exactly with the progress of decay in the roots ; and by 

 1893 their further decay will have shortened them again, 

 say, to the second dotted line, and thus made room for a 

 further subsidence. 



It is impossible to prove a subsidence of trees in general 

 as they grow old and decayed, because records are not made 

 respecting their elevations, liiit the subsidence of the 

 Greendale Oak, which has already been referred to, is beyond 

 a doubt. The picture is a copy of a print of the Greendale 

 Oak published in 1727, or three years after the roadway 

 was cut through the tree. Along with the print is a state- 

 ment that the archway was 10 ft. 2 in. high. In 1775 the 

 height of the arch was measured again, and the former 

 measurement was confirmed (Photo. No. 7), — this is given in 

 Dr. Hunter's "Evelyn's Sylva" (Photo. No. 3). In 1 894 the 

 highest point in the arch was 9 ft. 3 in. from the ground. 

 Thus this evidence shows a subsidence in the Greendale Oak 



