CHAP. CI. t/LMA^CEyE. U'lMUS. 1393 



generally known, that one of the elm trees standing near the entrance of the 

 passage leading to Spring Gardens was planted by the Duke of Gloucester, 

 brother to Charles I, As that unfortunate monarch was walking with his 

 guards from St. James's to Whitehall, on the morning of his execution, he 

 turned to one of his attendants, and mentioned the circumstance, at the same 

 time pointing out the tree." (Jesse's Glean., 2d series, p. 273.) 



Piffe's Elm, in the Valeof Gloucester,between Cheltenham and Tewkesbury, 

 was, in 1783, the finest tree of the species in the county. It was then mea- 

 sured by Marshall, and found to girt 16 ft. at the smallest part of the trunk. 

 It was between 70 ft. and 80 ft. high, and its head proportionably wide. 



The Chipstead Elm, in Kent, figured by Strutt, was 60 ft. high, and contained 

 268 ft. of timber. Its trunk was covered with ivy, and the tree appeared very 

 luxuriant when Mr. Strutt made his drawing ; but, in the spring of 1836, as 

 we were informed by J. Poihill, Esq., the tree did not put forth its leaves, and 

 it stood tiu-oughout the following summer a leafless trunk. The elms at 

 Mongewell, in Oxfordshire, a place celebrated by Leland for its " faire woodes," 

 are also engraved by Strutt. The largest is 79 ft. high, 14 ft. in circumference 

 at 3 ft. from the ground, the diameter of the head 65 ft., and it contains 250 ft. 

 of solid timber. About the centre of a group of these elms stands an urn, 

 inscribed to the memory of two highly valued friends of the possessor in 1830, 

 who was the Bishop of Durham ; and whom, Mr. Strutt observes, " it was de- 

 lightful to contemplate wandering, in his 90th year, amidst shades with which 

 he was almost coeval, and which in freshness and tranquillity afforded most 

 suitable emblems of his own green and venerable old age." In Ireland, the 

 dimensions of several elms are recorded by Hayes, which, though the specie? 

 is not named, we think belong to U. campestris. Near Arklow, at Shelton, 

 an elm had a trunk 5 ft. 4 in. in diameter at the surface of the ground. At 

 Luttrelstown, an elm by the road side girted 18 ft. 10 in. at the ground, and 

 had a straight trunk 40 ft. high. In the county of Kildare stood an elm, which, 

 till the year 1762, was, perhaps, the finest tree of the species in the world. 

 The diameter of the head, taken from the extremities of the lower branches, 

 exceeded 34 yards ; but in the end of that year the two principal arms fell from 

 the trunk in one night, apparently from their own weight, as the weather was 

 perfectly calm. The timber contained in these branches alone sold for 5 guineas. 

 In this situation the tree continued till the winter of 1776, when a violent storm 

 tore up the whole by the roots, with a great mass of soil and rock adhering to 

 them. Some time previous to this the trunk had been carefully measured, 

 and was found to be 38 ft. 6 in. in circumference. It had been hollow for 

 some years; and the value of its timber by no means answered what might 

 have been expected from the sale of its two branches in 1762. We have 

 nothing certain as to its age ; but tradition supposes it to have been planted 

 by the monks of St. Wolstan, some time before the dissolution of that mo- 

 nastery, which happened in the year 1538. An elm at Carton, the seat of the 

 Duke of Leinster, is 14 ft. 8 in. round near the bottom, diminishing like the 

 shaft of a Doric column, and being 13 ft. in circumfei'ence at 16 ft. from the 

 ground, and containing 169 cubic feet of timber. 



statistics. Existing Trees. V Imits campestris in the Environs of London. At Ham House, Essex, 

 it is 88 ft. high, diameter of the trunk 611., and of the head 73 ft. In the Fulham Nursery, 70 years 

 planted, it is 60 ft. high. At York House, Twickenham, 120 years planted, it is 90 ft. high, diameter 

 of the trunk 3| ft, and of the head fiO ft. 



V'lmus campestris South of London. In Devonshire, at Killerton, 200 years planted, it is 100 ft. 

 high, diameter of the trunk 7 ft. 3 in., and of the head 62 ft. ; at Muswell Hill, it is 77 ft. high, witlj 

 a trunk 1 ft. in diameter. In Dorsetshire, at Melbury Park, 200 years old, it is 125 ft. high, diameter 

 of the trunk 6 ft 9 in., and of the head 80 ft. In Hampshire, at Alresford, 81 years planted, it is 

 Toft, high, diameter of the trunk 4 ft. 4 in., and of the heatl 48 ft. ; at Strathfieldsaye, 130 ft. high, the 

 diameter of the trunk 51 ft., and of the head 72 ft. In the Isle of Wight, in Wilkins's Nursery, 35 

 years old, it is 50 ft. high. In Somersetshire, at Leigh Court, it is 90 ft. high, diameter of the trunk 

 5^ ft., and of the head 60 ft. ; another, 14 years planted, is SO ft. high : at Nettlecombe, 210 years old, 

 it is 100 ft. high, diameter of the trunk 5 ft. Sin., and of the head 57 ft. In Surrey, at Farnham Castle, 

 it is 96 ft. high, diameter of the trunk 7 ft. 9 in., and of the head 85 ft ; at St. Anne's Hill, it is 82 ft. 

 high, diameter of the trunk 4 ft. 8 in., and of the head 64 ft ; at Claremont, it is 100 ft high, diameter 

 of the trunk 6 ft., and of the head 85 ft. In Sussex, at Cowdry, it is 45ft. higt), diameter of the 

 trunk 4 ft lOin. ; and at Parham Park, there are some fine specimens. In Wiltshire, at Wardour 

 Castle, 50 years planted, it is 70 ft. high, diameter of the trunk 5 ft, and of the head 42 tt. 



U. campestris North of London. In Bedfordshire, at Flitwick House, it is 60 ft. high, with a trunk 



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