OF SELBOKNE. 5 



LETTER II. 



TO THE SAME. 



IN the court of Norton farm house, a manor farm to the north- 

 west of the village, on the white malms, stood within these 

 twenty years a broad-leaved elm, or wych hazel, ulmus folio 

 latissimo scabro of Ray, which, though it had lost a consider- 

 able leading bough in the great storm in the year 1703, equal 

 to a moderate tree, yet, when felled, contained eight loads of 

 timber; and, being too bulky for a carriage, was sawn off at 

 seven feet above the butt, where it measured near eight feet 

 in the diameter. This elm I mention to show to what a bulk 

 planted elms may attain ; as this tree must certainly have 

 been such from it's situation *. 



In the centre of the village, and near the church, is a square 

 piece of ground surrounded by houses, and vulgarly called 

 The Plestor. c In the midst of this spot stood, in old times, a 

 vast oak, with a short squat body, and huge horizontal arms 

 extending almost to the extremity of the area. This venerable 

 tree, surrounded with stone steps, and seats above them, was 

 the delight of old and young, and a place of much resort in 

 summer evenings; where the former satin grave debate, while 



* [On the grounds now belonging to the place, and at about fifty yarda 

 from the house, stands a very remarkable example of rejuvenescence in a 

 tree of this species, the Ulmus montana of Bauhin. From its great age 

 it had become a mere shell, but still continued to flourish ; and in the 

 month of June 1857 it suddenly broke and fell, from the mere weight of 

 the foliage ; for there was no wind at the time. The remains consisted of 

 the broken and hollow base only of the trunk, which had no appearance 

 of vitality ; but it soon threw out young wood, and now forms a large and 

 luxuriant tree, which is yearly covered with profuse foliage, and its 

 new branches extend to nearly sixty feet across. It must be very old, pro- 

 bably three or four centuries, as a single branch, when sawn through, 

 showed at least a hundred annual rings. The mass of the hollow fallen 

 trunk, nearly six feet in diameter, is still preserved ; and a figure of it, 

 from a photograph, is annexed. T. B.] 



c Vide the plate in the Antiquities. 



