368 WHITE 



The great oak in the Holt, which is deemed by Mr. Marsham 

 to be the biggest in this island, at seven feet from the ground, 

 measures in circumference thirty-four feet. It has in old 

 times lost several of its boughs, and is tending to decay. 

 Mr. Marsham computes, that at fourteen feet length this oak 

 contains 1000 feet of timber. 



It has been the received opinion that trees grow in height 

 only by their annual upper shoot. But my neighbor over the 

 way, whose occupation confines him to one spot, assures me 

 that trees are expanded and raised in the lower parts also. 

 The reason that he gives is this : the point of one of my firs 

 began for the first time to peep over an opposite roof at the 

 beginning of summer; but before the growing season was 

 over, the whole shoot of the year, and three or four joints of 

 the body beside, became visible to him as he sits on his form 

 in his shop. According to this supposition, a tree may ad- 

 vance in height considerably, though the summer shoot should 

 be destroyed every year. WHITE. 



FLOWING OF SAP. If the bough of a vine is cut late in 

 the spring, just before the shoots push out, it will bleed con- 

 siderably ; but after the leaf is cut, any part may be taken off 

 without the least inconvenience. So oaks may be barked 

 while the leaf is budding ; but as soon as they are expanded, 

 the bark will no longer part from the wood, because the sap 

 that lubricates the bark and makes it part, is evaporated off 

 through the leaves. WHITE. 



RENOVATION OF LEAVES. When oaks are quite stripped 

 of their leaves by chaffers, they are clothed again soon after 

 midsummer with a beautiful foliage ; but beeches, horse- 

 chestnuts, and maples, once defaced by those insects, never 

 recover their beauty again for the whole season. WHITE. 



ASH-TREES. Many ash-trees bear loads of keys every 

 year, others never seem to bear any at all. The prolific ones 

 are naked of leaves and unsightly; those that are sterile 

 abound in foliage, and carry their verdure a long while, and 

 are pleasing objects. WHITE. 



BEECH. Beeches love to grow in crowded situations, and 

 will insinuate themselves through the thickest covert, so as to 



