Common Oak 329 



Methven, an oak planted in 1811 had attained, in 1893, 16 feet in girth, and during 

 the last sixteen years had increased as much as 18 inches in girth. 



The "Capon Tree,"^ near Jedburgh, in 1893 was 22 feet 7 inches in girth at the 

 narrowest part of the trunk. It divides at 6 feet into two stems, girthing 16 feet 

 2 inches and 10 feet 9 inches. The "Pease Tree" at Lee,^ Lanark, measured, in 

 1890, 23 feet 7 inches in girth. 



Thre is a fine oak at Methven Castle called the Pepperwell Oak, which Henry 

 measured in 1904, 85 feet by 20 feet 4 inches. Colonel Smythe informed him that 

 when his ancestor Peter Smythe was imprisoned in the Tower of London in 1722, 

 his wife, though in sore straits for money, refused 100 marks for this tree. 



In the shrubbery of Scone Palace, Perth, in ground which was formerly gardens 

 belonging to a village, there is an oak, planted in 1805 (growing in black loam 

 4^ feet deep, resting on sand of unknown depth), which in 1904 was 102 feet high, 

 36 feet to the first branch, and 1 1 feet 4 inches in girth at 5 feet up. This shows 

 unusually rapid growth. Near it is another oak, probably of the same age, 98 feet in 

 height, 10 feet 8 inches in girth, with a bole of 25 feet. 



The finest oak seen by Henry in Scotland is growing in front of the house at 



Blair Drummond, Perthshire, the seat of H. S. Home Drummond, Esq. It is 118 



feet in height and 1 7 feet in girth, the first bough coming off at 24 feet up. This 



oak and a number of others near it probably date from some time after 1 730, the 



year in which the house was built. At Drumlanrig, Dumfriesshire, there is an oak 



16 feet in girth, with a bole of 225 feet, which is estimated to contain 361 cubic feet 



of timber. At Dalswinton, Dumfriesshire, there are two remarkable oak stools, 



standing close together. The larger is 28|^ feet in girth near the base ; and gives off 



five great stems, 81 feet in height, which average 8 feet in girth. 



(H. J. E.) 



The Oak in Ireland 



The most famous oak wood in Ireland was that of Shillelagh in Wicklow, from 

 which is derived the name formerly given to an oak stick, but now erroneously trans- 

 ferred to the blackthorn. From the wood of Shillelagh, according to tradition, were 

 derived the timbers which roof Westminster Hall, and also those on the roof of the 

 chapel of King's College, Cambridge. There is said' to be a record in St. Michan's 

 Church, verified by " Hanmer's Chronicle" in the library of Trinity College, Dublin, 

 which states : " The faire greene or commune, now called Ostomontoune Greene, was 

 all wood, and hee that diggeth at this day to any depth shall find the grounde full of 

 great rootes. From thence, anno 1098, King William Rufus, by license of Murchard, 

 had that frame which made up the roofes of Westminster Hall, where no English 

 spider webbeth or breedeth to this day." According to Hayes,' the finest trees in 

 Shillelagh were cut down in the time of Charles II. and exported to Holland for the 

 use of the Stadt House, under which hundreds of thousands of piles were driven. 

 In 1692 iron forges were introduced into Shillelagh; and the ruin of the wood 



' Trans. Nat. Hist. Soc. Glasg. 4th Sept. 1894. '' Woods and Forests, Jan. 28, 1885, Suppl. p. iii. 



' Practical Treatise on Planting, in (1794). 

 II S 



