HISTORICAL GARDENS 323 



put forth rival claims to the Chelsea ones are those of 

 Bretby and Enfield. The Bretby one is undoubtedly 

 very old, but there is no early reference to it in histories 

 which mention the Enfield trees, and the famous one at 

 Hendon, traditionally planted by Queen Elizabeth and 

 blown down in 1779, and a few others ; and there is no 

 contemporary evidence of the date of its planting to 

 warrant the assumption that it was before 1683. The 

 Enfield tree in the garden of Robert Uvedale was said, in 

 1 823, by Henry Phillips, to be about 156 years old, there- 

 fore older than the Chelsea ones by some six years ; but 

 there is no evidence to corroborate this. When Gibson 

 describes the Garden in 1691, he makes no mention of it, 

 and it seems unUkely he would have omitted such an 

 important tree. There exists much correspondence with 

 Uvedale and botanists of his time, but in none of the 

 letters or early notices is the cedar mentioned before 

 Ray's note of the Chelsea trees, or even referred to as 

 the first planted in England, so it seems the Chelsea 

 trees' claim to be the first is fairly established. 



The oriental plane, which fell just as it was going to be 

 taken down in 1904, was one of the finest in London, 

 planted by Philip Miller, and is quoted by Loudon, in 

 1837, as then £15 feet high. Some of the other famous 

 trees have also died, such as the cork trees and paper 

 mulberries ; but some have been more fortunate, and are 

 among the oldest of their kind in England. The Koel- 

 reuteria paniculata is probably the finest in this country, 

 and the other old trees which were noted as being par- 

 ticularly fine specimens in 18 13 or 1820, and which 

 are still alive, are Diospyros Virginiana^ the Persimmon 

 or Virginian date plum, the Quercus ilex, black walnut, 

 mulberry, and Styrax officinale. Rhus juglandifolia^ which 



