OF TREES AND PLANTS. 137 



being at the root about feven feet in circumference. A great 

 encouragement this to replant the neighbouring hills and moun- 

 tains, whofe made and verdure would be one of the greatcft 

 beauties of our country, and the timber a fund of wealth ! 



The larix, or larch-tree, is one of the moft ornamental and 

 valuable trees of our groves and plantations ; its form graceful, 

 its timber known from experience to exceed any tree for dura- 

 tion under falt-water, except the cyprefs (d.) 



The Cyprefs, the Cedar of Libanus, the Wey mouth-Pine, the Balm 

 of Gilead-Fir, the SpaniJJj chefnut, and the Walnut-tree^ thrive 

 very well in the warmer and better foils ; fome of them near the 

 fea. In the garden of Ralph William Grey, of Backivorth, Efq; 

 there is a Cyprefs about twenty feet in height ; alfo a SpaniJJj chef- 

 nut and a walnut-tree Handing together, fit for timber ; the latter 

 bearing nuts, and the cyprefs full of cones, 2ift Atigiifl, 1762. 

 There are two walnut-trees at Afoington, the feat of George Sandi- 

 ford Crow, Efq; of a remarkable fize j one fix feet, nine inches 

 in the girth, the trunk to four leading branches, nine feet, four 

 inches and a half \ the other fix feet in the girth, the trunk to two 

 leading branches, fix feet four inches and a half. The nuts both 

 here, and at Backivorth, arrive at no higher perfection than to ferve 

 for pickles. This tree does not lofe its leading moots at either 

 place, as it does in the vale of North Tyne ; which is owing partly 

 to mifmanagement, and partly to the foil ; the gardeners ufually 

 cutting off the tap-roots, and the foil frequently upon an ochrc- 

 ous iron-miver ; both which hinder their thriving, bring on an 

 atrophy and decay ; the bark turning fcabrous, and the trunk 

 deformed with blotches and fears. In a grove at Fenbam, the feat 



(d) Wiftorfs Naval Architecture, fol. Am/I. 1671. 



VOL. I. T of 



