654 "rhe Trees of Great Britain and Ireland 



poor soil. , Though the autumn colour of the leaves is pretty, yet as an ornamental 

 tree it is inferior to the Norway, American, and Japanese maples. It seeds itself 

 freely in hedges, growing slowly and living to a great age. Lees' mentions a 

 hollow tree at Powick which he estimated to be near 600 years old, and says 

 that one almost as ancient stood near Hanley Castle. 



It likes a dry, somewhat stony soil, and is most commonly seen in open sunny 

 places in the form of a large shrub of very irregular growth. It is often pollarded, 

 and in such cases becomes hollow, usually with a burry stem and spreading roots. 

 So far as I have observed, the seeds germinate in the first year if sown when ripe, 

 and are easy to raise. It bears pruning very well and is therefore suitable for 

 hedges, which in France are often made of this tree. 



According to Mouillefert,'' it suffered much at Grignon in the severe winter of 

 1879-1880, when the thermometer fell to- 27 Cent.; and is much less hardy than the 

 sycamore, which sustained this low temperature without being injured in the least ; 

 but I have never seen it damaged by frost in this country. 



Remarkable Trees 



There are many good-sized trees of this species in England, of which one at 

 Cobham Hall, Kent, is the tallest we have seen. This is a twin tree in a wood 

 near the house, with two tall straight stems from the same root, which are 6 feet 

 4 inches and 6 feet respectively in girth, and about 75 feet high. Another tree, in 

 the deer park here, is 70 feet high, with a trunk girthing, at three feet from the 

 ground, 8 feet 1 1 inches, and dividing at 4 feet up into four stems. At Chilham 

 Castle, Kent, the seat of C S. Hardy, Esq., there is a splendid tree 55 feet high by 

 13 feet 8 inches in girth which covers an area 86 paces round, but the bole is only 

 7 feet high. 



One of the best-shaped large trees that I have seen, grows in the park at the 

 Mote near Maidstone : it measures 60 feet by 10 feet 3 inches. I lately discovered 

 a magnificent tree past its prime at Langley Park, Norfolk, which, though only 

 45 feet high, girths 9 feet 5 inches and has branches which spread to a width 

 of ?4 paces. 



At Hursley Park, Hants, the property of Sir G. Cooper, Bart., there is a tree 

 which Sir Joseph Hooker told me was the finest that he had ever seen. Mr. 

 J. Clayton, who was forester- there, tells me that it has a short bole 9 feet 6 inches 

 in girth, with ten large spreading limbs, and contains about 1 1 1 feet of measurable 

 timber. The tree in Boldre Churchyard, figured by Strutt, and said by him to be 

 the largest in England, was, however, only 45 feet by 7 feet 6 inches, but I cannot 

 learn that it still exists. 



In Cassiobury Park there is a very well shaped tree on the golf ground, which 

 measured, in 1907, 60 feet by 9 feet 6 inches (Plate 184), being little less than the 

 one at the Mote. At Moor Park, Herts, Sir Hugh Beevor found in 1902 a quite 

 sound tree, which was 10 feet 3 inches in girth at 4 feet from the ground, and 

 no less than 76 feet in height. 



Botany of Worcester, p. xxxviii (1867). * Essences Forestiires, 208 (1903). 



