1916 



ARBORETUM AND FRUTICETUM. 



PART III. 



tractors, who had no demand for it. Thus the government, for a temporary 

 gain, occasioned a national loss of a prodigious number of valuable trees. 

 (Sketches, &c., vol. ii. p. 248.) The oldest cork tree in the neighbourhood 

 of London is in the grounds of the Fulham Palace; one of the handsomest, 

 though a much smaller tree, is that in the Fulham Nursery, of which the 

 engraving in our last Volume is a portrait. In the garden of the London 

 Horticultural Society, the rate of growth may be stated as 6 ft. or 8ft. in 10 

 years ; but, with extraordinary preparation, it would grow with double that 

 rapidity. The largest cork tree in Britain (perhaps in the world) is one in 

 Devonshire, at Mamhead, about 8 miles from Exeter. In 1834, the circum- 

 ference of the trunk of this tree, at 1 ft. from the ground, was 12 ft. 6 in. The 

 height of the trunk, before it branched off, was 10 ft., and the total height of 

 the tree about 60 ft. It stands in the middle of the park, quite detached and 

 exposed, at an elevation of about 450 ft. above the level of the sea, in a soil 

 of fine rich red loam, on a substratum of red stone conglomerate. It is only 

 3 miles distant from the sea, and is exposed to the sea breeze from the east. 

 The head is oval and compact, and its grand massive branches, each of which 

 would form a tree of noble dimensions, are covered with rugged corky bark, 

 resembling richly chased frosted silver, wjiich is finely contrasted with the 

 dark green luxuriant foliage. Near this tree stands another, 50 ft. high, with 

 a trunk 11 ft. 3 in. in circumference. (Gard. Mag., vol. xi. p. 127.) 



In Ireland, in the neighbourhood of Cork, on the estate of Sammerstown 

 there is a cork tree of unknown age, and which is thought by some to have 

 stood there for several centuries. Several generations ago, it must have been 

 a remarkable tree, for the then proprietor, when letting the land on which the 

 tree stands, introduced a clause into the lease, by which the tenant incurred 

 a penalty of 20/., if he cut down or injured the tree. Fig. 1800. is a portrait 



1800 



of this tree, to the scale of 1 in. to 10ft., which was sent to the Magazine of 

 Natural History in 1828 ; and the following are the dimensions of the trunk and 

 principal branches : Girt of the trunk at 3 ft. from the ground, 8 ft. 10 in. ; 

 height of the trunk before it divides, 9 feet ; girt of each of the two principal 

 branches, 6ft. 10 in.; girt of the second-rate branches, 5 ft. 4 in. ; diameter of 

 the head, 36 ft. ; the thickness of the cork, or outer bark, on the trunk, is 

 about 3 in. The height of this tree was not sent to ue ; but, judging from 

 the drawing, it appears to be between 25 ft, and 30 ft. 



