98 LANDSCAPE GARDENING. 



isting in a green old age, one of the most interesting monu- 

 ments of the past to be found in the country.* 



Near the village of Flushing, Long Island, on the farm of 

 Judge Lawrence, is growing one of the noblest oaks in the 

 countrJ^ It is truly park-like in its dimensions, the circum- 

 ference of the trunk being nearly thirty feet, and its majestic 

 head of corresponding dignity. In the deep alluvial soil of 

 the western valleys, the oak often assumes a grand aspect, 

 and bears witness to the wonderful fertility of the soil in 

 that region. f 



* The house seen in the engraving represents the " old Wyllis House." This 

 family, its former occupants, furnished the Secretary of State for Connecticut for 

 more than a century. Near the Charter Oak are some of the apple trees planted 

 by the Pilgrims, evidently Pearmains. Some of these, lately felled, have been 

 examined, and are found to be more than 200 hundred years old. 



f The following well authenticated description of a famous English oak, is 

 worth a record here. "Close by the gate of the water walk of Magdalen Col- 

 lege, Oxford, grew an oak which perhaps stood there a sapling when Alfred the 

 Great founded the University. This period only includes a space of 900 years, 

 ■which is no great age for an oak. About 500 years after the time of Alfred, Dr. 

 Stukely tells us, William of Waynefleet expressly. ordered his college (Magda- 

 len College), to be founded near the Great Oak ; and an oak could not I think 

 be less than 500 years of age to merit that title, together with the honour of fix- 

 ing the site of a college. When the magnificence of Cardinal Woolsey erected 

 that handsome tower which is so ornamental to the whole building, this tree 

 might probably be in the meridian of its glory. It was afterwards much injured 

 in the reign of Charles II, when the present walks were laid out. Its roots were 

 disturbed, and from that time it declined fast, and became a mere trunk. The 

 oldest members of the University can hardly recollect it in better plight ; but the 

 faithful records of history have handed down its ancient dimensions. Through 

 a space of 16 yards on every side it once flung its branches ; and under its mag- 

 nificent pavilion could have sheltered with ease 3000 men. In the summer of 

 1778, this magnificent ruin fell to the ground. From a part of its ruins, a chair 

 has been made for the President of the College, which will long continue its 

 memory." — Gilpin'i Forest Scenery. 



The King Oak, Windsor Forest, once the favourite tree of William the Con- 

 queror, is now more than 1000 years old, and the interior of the trunk is quite 

 hollow. Professor Burnet, who described it, lunched inside this tree with a party, 

 and says it is capable of accommodating 10 or 12 persons comfortably at dinner, 

 sitting. 



The Beggars Oak, in Bagot's Park, is twenty feet in girth five feet from the 



