ARBORETUM AND FRUT1CETUM. 



PART III, 



1984 



ated in Buckland churchyard, about a mile from Dover; and, according to 

 an account given of it by the Rev. W. T. Bree, is of great antiquity and 

 singular formation. About the middle of the last century, the tree " was 

 shattered by lightning, which, at the same time, demolished also the steeple of 

 the church, close to which it stands. To this catastrophe, no doubt, is to 

 be attributed, in a great measure, much of the rude and grotesque appearance 

 which it now presents. At a yard from the ground, the but, which is 

 hollow, and, on one side, extremely tortuous and irregular, protruding its 

 * knotted fangs,' like knees, at the height of some feet from the surface, 

 measures 24 ft. in circumference. It is split from the bottom into two por- 

 tions; one of which, at the height of about 6 ft., again divides naturally into 

 two parts ; so that the tree consists of a short equal but, branching out into 

 three main arms ; the whole not exceeding in height, to the extreme top of 

 the branches, more than about 25 ft. or 30 ft. Of what may be regarded as 

 the original trunk and arms but little now remains alive : two considerable 

 portions, however, are still conspicuous in the state of dead wood ; viz. one 

 on the inner part of the northern limb, hollow, and forming a sort of tunnel 

 or chimney; the other on the western limb, more solid, and exhibiting the 

 grain of the wood singularly gnarled and contorted. These, which are pro- 

 bably portions of the original trunk and arms, are partly encased, as it were, 



