366 The Trees of Great Britain and Ireland 



They seem to have been drawn up by surrounding trees, though now open on one 

 side ; and the fine trees beside them are Lawson Cypress, about fifty years old. At 

 Sherborne House, the seat of Lord Sherborne, is a fine group of six old larches on 

 the lawn, planted in a circle of very small diameter, which seed freely, and from 

 which I have raised good plants. They are remarkable for their symmetry and 

 equality rather than for their great size (Plate 99). At Mickleton Manor 

 I measured in 1903 a very curious larch, loj feet in girth, but of no great 

 height, whose branches spread to a distance of over twenty yards from the trunk. 

 Plate 100 shows the tallest larches which I have measured myself in England, 

 growing on a very dry, stony bank, composed of Oolite gravel, at Lyde, near 

 Colesborne. These have no doubt been drawn up by the surrounding beeches to 

 their great height, which exceeds 120 feet, the tallest, whose top is now dying, 

 was, when measured in 1903, about 125 feet; but their girth is only 7 to 8 feet. 

 They are remarkable from the fact that a part at least of their roots is under 

 water, and must derive some part of their nourishment from the decaying beech 

 leaves which accumulate there, as the trees higher up the bank are not nearly 

 so large. 



The tallest larch mentioned by Loudon in England was at Strathfieldsaye, 

 where one was recorded as being 130 feet high by 3 feet 6 inches in diameter ; but 

 none over 80 feet were reported at the Conifer Conference in 189 1. At Eridge 

 Park, Kent, are some very fine larch trees growing on sandy soil, in what seems a 

 damp situation below sandstone rocks, which average well over 100 feet in height, 

 and one which I measured was 1 1 5 feet by only 5 feet 3 inches, a very unusual 

 proportion of height to girth. Mr, R. Anderson has heard of a tree which was 

 felled near Moorhampton which contained 356 cubic feet as measured over bark 

 on the railway, and trees of over 200 cubic feet were not uncommon near this place. 

 At Savernake House, Wilts, he has measured a tree 12 feet in girth, and tells me 

 that the growth on this estate is sometimes so rapid that eight or nine rings may be 

 found together with an average width of half an inch. 



In the north-western counties there are, or have been, many very fine larches. 

 Sir Maurice Bromley Wilson tells me of two on the shores of Windermere, which he 

 thinks are the largest in the Lake district ; but the best I have seen myself are at 

 Greystoke Castle, the seat of the Howards of Greystoke, where Lady Mabel 

 Howard showed me a tree in a plantation near the castle called John-by-Park, which 

 is believed to have been planted by Charles, eleventh Duke of Norfolk, about 130 

 years ago, and which measured 11 feet 10 inches at 5 feet from the ground, and 

 contains about 230 cubic feet. There are also two trees, taller but not so thick as 

 the one at Greystoke, in the sunken garden at Lowther Castle in the same district. 



In Wales the larch has been planted as extensively as in England on most of 

 the large estates, and as a rule grows as well as, or better than, in England up to 800 

 or 1000 feet above the sea. Among the most remarkable trees are two at Chirk 

 Castle, Denbighshire, the seat of R. Myddelton, Esq., one of which measures 74 feet 

 by 13 feet 5 inches, and has very wide-spreading branches. The other forks low 

 down and is 12^ feet in girth. At Maesllwch Castle, Radnorshire, the seat of 



