CHAP. cv. CORYLA'CE^. QUE'RCUS. 1788 



White, in his Natural Ilisfory ofSdbonw (see Brown's edit., p. 195.), mentions, 

 in u letter to Mr. Pennant, an oak in Newton Lane, which, on a misty day in 

 October, 1775, dropped so fast, that the cart way stood in puddles, and the 

 ruts ran water, though the ground in general was dusty. 



Progress of Oaks from the Acorn. An oak, sprung from an acorn set by Robert 

 Marshain, E!sq.,at Stratton Strawless, near Norwich, A. D. 1719, measured, in 

 the spring of 1743, when 24 years old, 1 ft. 7 in. in girt at 5 ft. from the ground ; 

 and in 1758, when 41 years old, its girt at the same height was 2 ft. 8 in. ; 

 having increased 1 ft. 1 in. in girt, and something more than 2ft. 3 in. in solid 

 contents, during 15 years. This oak,we are informed by Robert Marsham, Esq., 

 the grandson of the planter of the tree, was, in December, 1836,13ft. in circum- 

 ference at 5 ft. from the ground, and 17 ft. at 1 ft. ; with a trunk 19 ft. long clear 

 of branches, and a remarkably handsome head ; it was 64 ft. high. Two oaks, 

 planted by Mr. Marsham in 1720 and 1721, in 1 743 measured 2 ft. 9f in., and 2ft. 

 1 1 in. in circumference at 5 ft. high ; and had increased 1 ft. 1 1^ in. and 2 ft. 

 2 in. respectively in girt, and 9 ft. 1 in. and 10 ft. 3 in. in solid contents, during 

 15 years; while two oaks, about 60 or 80 years of age, which, in 1743, girted 

 6ft. 3|in. and 9 ft. 4^ in., measured, in the autumn of 1758, 7 ft. 8 in., and 

 10 ft. 1 in. ; having increased only 1 ft. 5 in. and 8^ in., in their respective cir- 

 cumferences, in 15 years ; although their solid contents exceeded in increase 

 the younger trees, being, in the sixty -year oak, 12 ft. 1 in., and in the eighty- 

 year oak, 16 ft. 1 in. and upwards; the height of this tree in February, 1837, 

 Mr. Marsham inform us, was exactly 92 ft. An acorn, writes Dr. Plot, which 

 was set in a hedgerow, between Colton and Blithfield, by Ralph Bates, grew 

 to a stout oak, being 2 ft. square at the but end, within the life of its planter, 

 who outlived its felling. The first 10ft. were sawn into boards, and used for 

 building: it contained nearly a ton of timber. An oak which was planted at 

 Denham Rectory, Bucks, in 1750, girted, at its smallest part, 8 ft. in 1817, 

 being then but 67 years of age : the total height was 50 ft., and the diameter 

 of its head about 70 ft. In the garden at Sheffield Place, Sussex, stands a 

 fine oak, which was set in the year 1745; and in 1815, when 70 years old, its 

 trunk was 12ft. in circumference, its clear bole 10ft.; at which height it 

 divided into branches that overspread an area of 75 ft. in diameter. An 

 acorn was sown at Rickett, the seat of Lord Barrington, on the day of his 

 birth in 1717. In November, 1790, it contained 95ft. of timber, which, at 2s. 

 per foot, would sell for 91. 10s. The top was valued at about I/. 15*. The 

 girt, at 5 ft. from the ground, was about half an inch more than 8 ft. The 

 increase of the girt, in the two last years, was 4^ in. It grows in rich land, 

 worth I/. 5s. an acre. (Bath. Soc. Pap., &c.) 



Rate of Growth of the Oak. An oak, in a good soil and situation, will, in 

 75 years from the acorn, contain a ton of timber. (South in Bath Soc. Pap., 

 vi. p. 37.) The same oak, at 150 years of age, will contain upwards of 8 tons 

 of timber, or about 12 loads of square timber. (Id., p. 38.) An oak, planted 

 by Mr. Marsham in 1720, was, in 1794, 74 years afterwards, about 8ft. in 

 circumference at 14 ft. from the ground. The soil had been prepared and 

 manured. In the first 36 years of its growth, this tree gained Hin. in cir- 

 cumference yearly. The growth of a middle-aged oak is generally fro'm 1^ in. to 

 1 in. in circumference yearly ; between its twentieth and its hundredth year, it 

 sometimes exceeds this measure, and, in its second century, falls within it; 

 but, as the solidity of the shaft consists less in its length than in the square 

 of diameter in the girting place, a small addition to the diameter there en- 

 larges the square abundantly. Wherefore, though the circumference from the 

 100th to the 150th year may not increase so fast as it did to the 100th, 

 the solid contents will be increasing faster ; for, as the square of the diameter 

 (40= 1600) exceeds the square of 24=576, so will the contents in the 150th 

 year exceed the contents in the 100th, when its annual enlargement was in. 

 greater. (Id., p. 50.) According to the Rev. Richard Yates, writing after 

 " a sedulous and active experience of 50 years," by choosing a deep loamy 



