404 TRANSACTIONS AND PROCEEDINGS OF THE [Sess. i.xvii. 



of 11 in., a fact which is important, for although there is ample 

 independent evidence that the Cowthorpe Oak has sunk 

 somewhat into the ground, yet it is more assuring to find 

 that other trees do the same under similar conditions. 



In 1879, the Eev. Thomas White, who had been Rector 

 of Cowthorpe for thirty-five years, writes, " I think the 

 venerable tree has shrunk very much in my time." In 

 1888, H. Crossley of Wetherby says, "The tree has 

 shrunk somewhat during recent years." In 1893, a Cow- 

 thorpe man named Gates (sixty-seven years old) said, " The 

 tree has shrunk very much in my time " (Photo. No. 5). 

 In 1842,Empson gives a girth close under the great branch, 

 which he stated was 8| ft. from the ground, but this branch 

 in 1893 was only 7 ft. 3 in. from the ground. These two 

 measurements in fifty-one years show a subsidence of the 

 tree during the time of 15 in. There is collateral evidence 

 of the subsidence, furnished by the slanting position at the 

 present time of the three props, which already supported 

 the main branch in October 1829, for then they would be 

 upright, and the difference between the upright position 

 and the present slanting one shows a decrease in the 

 elevation of the branch of 2 ft. Tiiere is another circum- 

 stance in connection with the Cowthorpe Oak which should 

 be considered when comparing the earlier measurements 

 with those of a later date. Sometime before Empson wrote 

 (viz. 1842), the soil was dug up all round the tree at a 

 distance of 13 or 14 ft. from the bole, and was thrown up 

 about the bottom of the tree. By this operation the circum- 

 ference of the tree where it meets the soil would be reduced, 

 but certainly not so much as some writers would lead us to 

 believe, for the trenching round the tree is evident to-day, 

 and it was so little that one may see it could not affect the 

 tree's dimensions as seriously as it has been asserted. 



The explanations and proofs of the subsidence of the 

 Cowthorpe Oak may be tedious, but they are important, as 

 the phenomenon established thereby is common to forest 

 trees. And without the explanations it would be impossible 

 to reconcile the various measurements from the earliest time 

 until now. 



(Photo. No. 5.) The diagram shows the shape of the 

 trunk of the tree, the diameter of which is greatest on the 



