6']6 The Trees of Great Britain and Ireland 



Cultivation 



This tree was introduced by Sir Charles Wager in 1725, and is still known in 

 some catalogues and gardens as Wager's maple. It was formerly commoner in 

 cultivation than now, and deserves a place in every garden where a suitable 

 situation can be found ; being perfectly hardy at least in the southern half of 

 England, and one of the most beautiful-leaved trees we have both in spring and 

 autumn. The seed is difficult to procure, as it ripens so early in the season 

 though Loudon says it ripens in England, I have never seen any, and according to 

 Dawson ' should be sown directly it is ripe, and shaded and watered during the first 

 summer. It is, however, easy to procure young trees by post from America in 

 autumn, and such will I believe make better trees than the grafted ones which are 

 usually sold in Europe, 



Dr. Masters ^ says that this is one of the best and most elegant trees for 

 planting in towns ; but that he never saw a tree of the kind of such proportions as 

 one on the ramparts at Ypres in Belgium. 



Remarkable Trees 



The tallest tree of this species I have seen in England is in a shrubbery at 

 Cobham Hall, Kent, where, however, it has been too much crowded to develop 

 its natural habit and beauty. It is about ']'] feet by 9 feet, with a clean bole of 

 nearly 30 feet. There are some trees on Ashampstead Common, Berks, of which 

 the largest is about 65 feet by 8 feet. 



At Rickmansworth Park, I measured a tree 60 feet by 12 feet which grows 

 on the banks of the stream and spreads to a diameter of 30 paces. At Barton, 

 Suffolk, there is a very spreading tree on a lawn, forked close to the ground, and 

 68 feet high, with two main stems 9 feet 3 inches and 6 feet 3 inches in girth. At 

 Hampton Court, Herefordshire, there is an old tree in the lower park on rich 

 alluvial soil, which, when measured by Mr. Hogg in 1881, was 65 feet by 11 feet 

 5 inches. When I saw it in 1905 it had lost its top and was decaying, though it 

 had increased in girth to 12 feet 3 inches. At Woburn, in rich damp soil near a 

 pond, there is a handsome spreading tree, with a short bole, 53 feet high by 9 feet 

 5 inches ; and at Syon a tall slender tree, 58 feet high and only 3 feet 3 inches 

 round, has smooth bark like that of a beech. At Arley Castle there is a fine 

 tree 61 feet by 4 feet which, according to Mr. R. Woodward, was only planted 

 in 1877. Smaller and younger trees are found in many gardens ; but in the 

 North and West of England we have seen none worthy of record, and Loudon 

 mentions no trees equal to those above mentioned. 



In Scotland, Mr. W. Middleton Campbell has measured a tree at Camis Eskan, 

 near Helensburgh, which is 58 feet by 1 1 feet i inch. 



In Ireland, Henry has seen no large silver maples, and one at Glasnevin, 45 feet 

 high by 6^ feet in girth, is badly shaped and not thriving. 



Trans. Mass. Hort. Soc. 1885, p. 153. 2 Card. Chron. xxxvi. 267 (1904). 



