228 Yew- Trees of Great Britain and Ireland 



30 feet 4 inches in circumference at 3 feet from the 

 ground ; has a stunted, hollow trunk, with a lateral 

 opening, and will hold five or six persons.' 



' It has in the centre a still more remarkable 

 inner trunk, covered with bark, quite detached and 

 distinct from the old trunk below, but united to it 

 above by a great branch running into, or more 

 probably proceeding from it.' 1 



This inner trunk is, no doubt, like that in the 

 Portbury and Binder trees, the result of a root sent 

 down from the crown through the decayed wood 

 in the centre. 



The Rev. W. A. W. Evans, writes to me in 

 April 1895: 'Height, 45 feet; spread, 40 feet; 

 girth at ground, 31 feet; do. at 3 feet, 32 feet; 

 length of bole to first bough, 5 feet. The trunk is 

 covered with young spray.' 



Owing to the central roots taking on the stem 

 function, it is obvious that in examples like this, 

 the rate of increase cannot be justly estimated. 

 But even here, in spite of the formation of a new 

 central trunk, the increase in seventy-three years at 

 3 feet from the ground amounts to 7 inches of 

 diameter. 



Lorton Yew. This is described in the poem 

 Yew Trees. 'It is greatly reduced in size and 

 majesty since Wordsworth wrote his poem,' says 

 Professor Knight, * and it is now very much of a 



1 Strutt, Sylva Brit., 1822. 



