BRAMSHILL 241 



Rectory being of the same date. The hardy 

 trees took kindly to their new home ; and, 

 seeding themselves, have spread far and wide 

 over vast tracts of the country round, turning 

 the bleak, heather-clad land into forest once 

 again. Nowhere south of Tweed are finer 

 specimens to be found than in this Hampshire 

 park. Of the original trees, an avenue runs 

 round a triangular space of the park some 

 quarter of a mile across ; while other gigantic 

 specimens alternate with huge Silver Firs, 

 rising from Bracken and Heather on each side 

 of the principal avenue leading from the house 

 towards Eversley, this merging outside the 

 confines of the park into a superb Fir avenue 

 of younger trees, which would be considered 

 giants if their ancient progenitors were not 

 seen. One side, unhappily, of this latter 

 avenue has been sadly marred by a succession 

 of fires, the bane of our beautiful moorlands. 

 But so rapidly do these trees grow, that one 

 trusts another fifty years may see the Fir 

 avenue restored to its original estate, an arcade 

 of lofty shafts, red in the sunshine, meeting 

 overhead in a canopy of dark green, and 



Q 



