266 CORRESPONDENCE OF GILBERT WHITE 



you cut off an Arm of Beech, they seldom produce another ; 

 but an Oak will give you 2 for one, & a Chesnut (in de- 

 fyance) 5 or more for one. I have this winter had several 

 favourite Beeches digged round, two spades deep, as far as 

 the roots extend, in hopes it may promote their growth. But 

 i do not recommend this as oeconomy. If i can thus gain 

 half an inch extra, i reckon myself paid the 3 half crowns ex- 

 pended on the Tree. 



My eyes water so much that i am forced to write by in- 

 stalments, as Bankrupts pay their debts. The Swallow was 

 dead, & a wing torn off. I certainly never remember so much 

 thunder in a winter as in this, & perhaps not so much wind & 

 rain. But as i do not measure the rain, i am not certain. 

 Tho' the Season has been uncommonly mild, i do not find the 

 Indications of Spring so early, e.g Snowdrop F. Jan. 16. 

 Thrush sings Feb. 14. Rooks build Mar. 2 & i have not 

 heard a Ring-dove coo yet ; but stockdoves on the 23 of Feb. 



In my favourite Book, the Nat. Hist, of Selborne, i am 

 perplexed to find C. Taylor Vicar in 1784, as i thought you 

 had the Vicarage : and i suppose that your namesake, in 

 1691, the charitable Vicar was an Ancestor of your's. 



I should have gone on with last Winter, & as a strong 

 proof of its mildness have told you that i have a Hawthorn & 

 a Hornbeam both headed last year, y e first full leafed & green, 

 the last, some leaves green. I forget the authority, but i am 

 confident i have heard that old London was built of Chest- 

 nut *. Tho' 'tis apt to be split with frost, 'tis certainly last- 

 ing Timber, although it grows quick. Perhaps i may have 



* [The statement is made by Ducarel (Phil. Trans. Ixi. p. 137, for 1771), 

 but, as appears by Marsh ani's next letter, he had not seen it there. 

 A. N.] 



[The question to what extent chestnut timber formerly took the place 

 of oak, and how far the material of the roofs of churches, &c., long 

 supposed to have been constructed of the latter, proves upon more careful 

 inspection to be of chestnut, has of late years excited considerable 

 interest. One of the oldest remaining' churches in this country, that of 

 Greenstead in Essex, still retains its wooden walls entire, and is con- 

 structed, if I am rightly informed, of this timber. It is believed on good 

 grounds that it was originally erected as a shrine or resting-place for the 



