OBSERVATIONS ON VEGETABLES. 349 



OBSERVATIONS ON VEGETABLES. 



TREES, ORDER OF LOSING THEIR LEAVES. 



ONE of the first trees that become naked is the walnut ; the 

 mulberry, the ash, especially if it bears many keys, and the 

 horse-chestnut come next. All lopped trees, while their 

 heads are young, carry their leaves a long while. Apple-trees 

 and peaches remain green very late, often till the end of 

 November : young beeches never cast their leaves till spring, 

 till the new leaves sprout and push them off: in the autumn, 

 the beechen leaves turn of a deep chestnut colour. Tall 

 beeches cast their leaves about the end of October. 



WHITE. 



SIZE AND GROWTH. Mr. Marsham, of Stratton, near 

 Norwich, informs me by letter thus : " I became a planter 

 early ; so that an oak, which I planted in 1720, is become 

 now, at one foot from the earth, 12 feet 6 inches in circum- 

 ference, and at 14 feet (the half of the timber length), is 

 8 feet 2 inches. So, if the bark were to be measured as 

 timber, the tree gives 1161 feet, buyer's measure. Perhaps 

 you never heard of a larger oak, while the planter was living. 

 I natter myself that I increased the growth by washing the 

 stem, and digging a circle as far as I supposed the roots to 

 extend, and by spreading sawdust, &c., as related in the 

 Phil. Trans. I wish I had begun with beeches (my favourite 

 trees, as well as yours) ; I might then have seen very large 

 trees of my own raising. But I did not begin with beech 

 till 1741, and then by seed ; so that my largest is now 5 feet 

 from the ground, 6 feet 3 inches in girth, and, with its head, 

 spreads a circle of 20 yards diameter. This tree was also 

 dug round, washed, &c. Stratton, 24^ July, 1790." 



