1812 The Trees of Great Britain and Ireland 



Remarkable Trees 



The most remarkable tree in Europe is one at Danny Park, Sussex, the seat 

 of W. H. Campion, Esq., of which Plate 384, reproduced from a photograph taken 

 by Mrs. F. D. Godman in 1910, gives a good idea. When this wonderful tree 

 was planted it is impossible to say, but Mr. Campion's grandfather told him that 

 it was an old tree when he came to Danny about 181 5; and judging from a 

 drawing of the house made in 1787, in which a tulip-tree probably of the same age 

 is shown as a small tree, it may have been planted about 1 760. The branches 

 extend over a space 150 yards round, as measured by Mr. Campion, and the 

 spread on the longer axis is about 60 yards. The main stem was about 80 ft. in 

 length and 12 ft. 10 in. in girth in 1909. It is a male tree, and flowers in April, 

 holding its leaves till late in November. Cuttings have failed to root, but two 

 trees were propagated by grafting on stocks of P. serotina, and these are growing 

 at Conyboro, Lewes, the seat of Lord Monkbretton. An illustration of this tree 

 was published in The Garden, xxv. 189 (1898), but the ground plan which I am 

 able to give of it, from accurate measurements made by Mr. J. P. Williams, is 

 the only way by which the extraordinary ramifications and rooting of its branches can 

 be understood. 



Another large male tree is at Syon Park, which in 1905 was 92 ft. 1 by 9 ft. ; 

 but this may not be the same as the one figured by Loudon, Arb. vii. 277, as 83 ft. 

 high in 1838. I showed this tree to Prof. Sargent, who admitted it to be distinct 

 from P. monilifera, but said that he had never seen any trees like it in America. 



There are two male trees on the bank of the Thames in the playing fields at 

 Eton, of considerable size, which keep their leaves till the end of November. 

 Another at Beauport, in the lower part of the park, was 80 ft. by 6 ft. 4 in. in 1909, 

 and, as Sir A. Lamb tells me, retains its leaves till the middle of December unless 

 there has been a severe frost, which seems a good proof of its southern origin. 



In Scotland I have seen none ; but in Queen's County, Ireland, at Abbeyleix, 

 the seat of Viscount de Vesci, there is a spreading tree of no great age, which in 1910 

 measured 63 ft. by 4 ft. It is a female tree and was obtained from Smith of Newry. 



In France there are many old trees, especially around Paris. A large one at 

 Baleine, near Moulins-sur-Allier, was blown down shortly before my visit in May 

 1909 ; and the log, which measured 14 metres long by 3.75 metres in girth, was sold 

 for 140 francs. In the Pare Borilly at Marseilles there were a number of fine trees, 

 all males, in full flower on 17th March 1910, whilst the trees which M. Coste, the 

 head gardener, called peuplier de Virginie (P. serotina), growing close by, were not 

 yet in bloom. (H. J. E.) 



In the south of France in many places this species replaces the hybrid poplars, 

 which are commonly planted farther north, as an avenue and roadside tree. There 

 is a remarkable avenue, over a mile long, in the forest of Thetieu, near Dax, the 

 trees averaging 90 to no ft. in height, and 7 to 9 ft. in girth, with stems clear of 



1 In Jackson's Catalogue of Trees at Syon the height is given as 1 1 1 ft. 



