1258 The Trees of Great Britain and Ireland 



with a bole of about 20 ft. Nearly as tall and even better in its habit, is one at 

 Leeds Castle, Kent, which in 1902 I found to be 105 ft. by n ft., with a clean 

 straight stem over 50 ft. long. At Badminton Park there is a tree about 100 ft. by 

 10 ft. 4 in. which is known as the " Raglan Oak." At Bayfordbury, a well-shaped 

 tree measures 96 ft. by 1 1 ft. 



At Corsham Court there is a tree with very drooping branches which spread 

 on the grass, and measure 78 paces round. Miss Woolward tells me of a very fine 

 tree at Boughton Malherbe Rectory near Maidstone, which in 1908 was 85 ft. by 

 17^ ft., and has a spread of 100 ft. At Stratton Park and at Hackwood Park in 

 Hants there are very large Turkey oaks which I have not measured. In the north 

 of England the best I know is a tree in Ray wood at Castle Howard, which has 

 been drawn up by surrounding beeches to a height of 98 ft., with a bole 40 ft. long, 

 girthing ia ft. 



In Wales by far the largest I have seen is at Dynevor Park, which was care- 

 fully measured in 1906 by the Hon. W. Rice, who made it 103 ft. by 14 ft. 7 in., 

 with a spread of 103 ft. 



In Scotland the Turkey oak is seldom seen. The largest mentioned by 

 Loudon were at Hopetoun House, 50 ft. by 6 ft. 9 in., and at Brahan Castle, 

 50 ft. by 6 ft. The last tree may probably be the same as one which I measured 

 in the dell below that beautiful place, and which, in July 1907, was no less than 

 90 ft. by 10 ft. 4 in., by far the finest of its sort that I have seen in Scotland. At 

 Bruach burn, near Beaufort Castle in the same county, a large Turkey oak is 

 growing in a sheltered situation, which has a short bole 11 ft. 9 in. in girth, and 

 a wide-spreading top. 



Timber 



The timber of this tree has a bad reputation in the trade in England, because 

 it will not stand weather, or alternations of wet and dry, like the common oak ; and 

 is therefore useless for outside work. Laslett, who was sent to Asia Minor in 1859 

 to search for oak suitable for the navy, says that in the valleys near Brussa 

 Q. Cerris was found, and that this and the common oak were used by the Turks 

 for naval shipbuilding, but he goes into no details. I have been told by boat- 

 builders in Cornwall that it is excellent for keels ; but whatever may have been its 

 value in French shipbuilding formerly, as stated by Bosc and others, it is now, 

 according to Mouillefert, little used in France except for firewood. 



Atkinson states 1 that the doors of the principal rooms in the Marquess of 

 Downshire's house at East Hampstead, near Wokingham, were made of the wood 

 of Turkey oaks cut down there about 1828, and that the wood is finer in the grain 

 and takes a better polish than British or foreign wainscot oak, and is more beautiful 

 than any oak he had seen. But the Marquess of Downshire informs me that as the 

 present mansion was built about 1857 it is doubtful whether they still exist. 



(H. J. E.) 



1 Tram. Hort. Soc. Lond. i. 338 (1835). 



