156 THE WONDERS OF VEGETATION. 



where the counties of Nottingham, Derby and York 

 met, and its shadow thus covered a portion of each, 

 extends its foliage over an era of 780 square yards. 

 The most productive of oaks ever known, was one in 

 the county of Monmouth. It was cut down in 1810 ; 

 the bark alone was sold for 200 pounds sterling ; and 

 the wood for 670 pounds. (These figures are tak- 

 en from the British Review.} In the manor of 

 Tredegar, in the same county, a hall 42 feet long by 

 27 feet wide, was floored and wainscoted with the 

 timber of a single oak-tree taken from the park. 



The oak of Autrage, in the arrondissement of Bed- 

 fort (Upper Khine), one of the largest trees in 

 France, was felled a few years ago It was 15 feet in 

 diameter at the base and more than 42 feet in circum- 

 ference. The trunk alone produced 4,500 feet of 

 saleable timber. This oak is believed to have been 

 in existence in Druidical times. 



It is not necessary to travel far from Paris to see 

 a number of very respectable specimens of vegetable 

 antiquity. Without going as far even as the forest of 

 Fountainebleau, and on the road thither, it you stop 

 8-t the station of Montgeron or of Brunoy, and make 

 an excursion into the beautiful forest of Senart, you 

 will come to the little village of Champrosay, near 

 which there is a " cross roads," at which eight roads 

 meet. In the centre of this opening stands the old 

 oak of Antein. The trunk is 18 feet in circumfer- 

 ence ; and the space covered with the foliage is 90 

 square feet. Many of its branches have been cut 

 down they were no longer useful as formerly, to bear 



