462 The Natural History of Se I borne 



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, at five feet from the ground, six feet 

 three inches in girth, and with its head spreads a circle 

 of twenty yards diameter. This tree was also dug round, 

 washed, &c." Stratton, z^thjuly, 1790. 



The circumference of trees planted by myself at one foot 

 from the ground (1790) : 



ft. in. 



Oak in 1730 ..45 



Ash 1730 . . 4 6i 



Great fir 1751 . . 50 



Greatest beech 1751 . . 40 



Elm 1750 . . 53 



Lime 1756 . . 55 



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. Mar- 

 sham 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 neighbour 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 

 advance in height considerably, though the summer shoot 

 should be destroyed every year. WHITE. 



