1286 The Trees of Great Britain and Ireland 



has, among other improvements for the good of his country, propagated a large 

 parcel of these trees in England, some of which have in about thirty years grown to 

 a considerable greatness of stature. This gentleman has raised some thousands of 

 them from acorns, and to follow his method we must set the acorns in loam well 

 sifted, in garden pots in February, and turn them out with the earth about their 

 roots when they are two years old." Ellis ' a year later says that " at Mamhead in 

 a shallow sort of soil of but 9 in. deep, before a red rock appears, these trees had 

 prospered so well that at forty years' end the diameter of their bodies measured 

 above a foot each, and the height of one of them was above 50 ft., with a straight 

 taper stem without a knot." R. Pince 2 of the Exeter Nursery gave the dimensions 

 of some of the trees at Mamhead in 1835 as follows : 



One of a group on the confines of 

 Haldon, about 600 ft. above 

 sea-level. 



Detached in middle of park. 



In a sheltered place about 250 ft. 



About 500 ft. elevation. 



In a sheltered situation about 



500 ft. elevation. 

 About 500 ft. elevation. 



exposed situation. 



Of these I cannot now identify Nos. 3 and 6. No. 4 is probably a fine old tree 

 (Plate 326) near the big cork oak, and, in 1908, was 17 ft. 10 in. in girth. No. 5 

 is probably a very spreading tree with a short bole, near the gardens, which in 

 1908 measured 8 21 ft. in girth. Besides these there is a group of very tall trees 

 close to the Dawlish Lodge, which Sir R. Newman believes to be some of the 

 earliest planted. The finest of these is at least 90 ft. high by 1 6 J ft. in girth. 



At Tregothnan in Cornwall there are great numbers of this tree, which shade 

 a beautiful drive along the shores of the harbour, but owing to the rocky soil do 

 not attain any great size. 



Perhaps the oldest-looking tree which I know of is at Wilton House, close to 

 the mansion, and, though of no great height, its trunk measures no less than 18 ft. 

 in girth, and its branches, which are supported by props, cover an area 90 paces 

 round. Loudon states that in 18 10 this tree was 10 ft. in girth. 



At Frogmore, there is a large tree, having the leaves much larger than usual, 

 and supposed to have been raised from Algerian acorns, though I can get no exact 

 history of it. It measured about 50 ft. by 17 ft. in 1904; and another close by it 

 with different leaves was 1 5^ ft. in girth. 



' Ellis, The Timber Tree Improved (17 40). 2 Loudon, Gard. Mag. xi. 127 (1835). 



3 The girth, 22 ft., recorded in 1835, may have been taken near the ground. 



