MISCELLANEOUS. 193 



the plantation not only prevents the expan- 

 sion of the branches, but interferes with the 

 life of the modern tree, as it is seldom found 

 in a healthy state after sixty or seventy years' 

 growth. This cause is not, however, of uni- 

 versal application, as very different results 

 are observable under apparently similar cir- 

 cumstances. A considerable quantity of 

 Scotch firs were lately cut out of the belt at 

 Addington Park, not one of which had the 

 smallest approximation to the old character ; 

 while there are now standing, in the belt at 

 Drayton Manor, in Staffordshire, numerous 

 specimens, which, though from a similar pres- 

 sure they have lost their lateral branches, yet 

 manifest, in the surface and colour of the 

 bole, as well as in the rich luxuriance of the 

 foliage, the true character of the Scotch fir. I 

 have also observed the same circumstance in 

 Kent, particularly in the neighbourhood of 

 Tonbridge. The specimen here given was 

 drawn from a tree of large dimensions, and 

 in perfect health, though it must be of very 

 considerable age ; it stands amongst many 

 others near the church at Sundridge. 



A gentleman having mentioned to me 

 some remarkable Scotch firs that had been 



o 



