50 Yew- Trees of Great Britain and Ireland 



In trees of known age the rate of increase varies 

 considerably according to locality, climate, and soil. 

 In some cases a foot of diameter is produced in 

 sixty years, or even in a shorter period, in others 

 in seventy-two to eighty. The late Sir R. Chris- 

 tison thought that a foot in seventy-five years 

 was about the average rate of growth, but many 

 English trees far exceed this. Unless we are to 

 believe that these grow more rapidly than Scottish 

 trees, his estimate would appear to be too low. 

 Good examples of the relation of known age to 

 girth are to be found in an avenue of yew-trees at 

 Tytherly (in Queenswood), Wilts, consisting of 

 1 20 trees, averaging about 24 feet high, with trunks 

 nearly 2 feet in diameter. 1 These were planted 

 1 20 years ago, so that they represent a growth of 

 nearly i foot of diameter in sixty years. The 

 eighteen young trees in Gresford Churchyard, 

 near Wrexham, measured by Mr. Bowman, and 

 of which the age was known, from the parish 

 records, to be 120 years, had attained a diameter 

 of 21 inches, or i foot of diameter in nearly 683- 

 years. But by far the most remarkable data which 

 have hitherto been recorded are those mentioned 

 in the Times by Mr. Walter Money, and repeated 

 by Professor Henslow in Nature, October 24, 1889, 

 with accurate measurements. From this account 

 it appears that the parish register records the 



1 Loudon, op. cit. 



