THE WONDERS OF VEGETATION. 155 



Duke of Wiirtemberg surrounded it with four porches, 

 and caused his armorial bearings to be painted upon 

 two of these columns. At the top the linden-tree 

 of Neustadt divides into two great branches, one of 

 which was broken by a tempest in 1773, while the 

 other at the present day is still nourishing and 110 

 feet in length. 



The linden-tree of Freiburg, though of smaller 

 size, is of historical interest. It has grown up from a 

 branch planted on the day of the battle of Morat, be- 

 side the corpse of a young Freiburger who had 

 died on the spot from over-exertion in hastening to 

 cheer his native town by the welcome news of the 

 victory. 



The linden-tree of Yillars-en-Moing, near Frei- 

 burg, is still older, for it was already famous in 1476, 

 when this great battle was fought. Its circumference 

 does not measure less than 40 feet ; its height is 75 

 feet ; and its crown is still a vast mass of almost im- 

 pervious foliage. 



After the lime-tree, the oak grows to the greatest 

 size in Europe. 



England possesses very remarkable specimens both 

 for age and size. The following are some of the 

 measurements : 



The famous oak of Clipson Park is 1 ,500 years old, 

 since the park, which belongs to the Duke of Port- 

 land, existed before the Norman Conquest. The larg- 

 est oak in England is the oak of Calthorpe, in York- 

 shire. It is 78 feet in circumference at its base. 



The Shire oak, so called because it stood on a spot 



