34 LONDON TREES 



bushy and well furnished, and in perfect health. The 

 stem at 3 feet and 5 feet from the ground measures 

 7 feet 7 inches and 5 feet 2 inches in circumference, 

 while the branch spread is 47 feet in diameter. At the 

 Houses of Parliament there is a row of these trees, 

 six in number, which are in a healthy, promising con- 

 dition and have been carefully attended to in the matter 

 of pruning and stem-repairing where necessary. 

 Though of low growth, about 30 feet, the spread of 

 branches is considerable, and although planted at a 

 uniform distance of 36 feet apart the branch tips 

 almost meet. Manchester Square can boast of one of 

 the finest Catalpas in central London, the trunk being 

 7 feet 9 inches in girth at a yard up, and 7 feet 7 inches 

 at 5 feet, while the far-spreading branches cover a 

 space 20 yards in diameter. Though the stem is some- 

 what diseased and wisely supported, yet the tree is 

 in good health and produces flowers freely, specimens 

 of which have been sent for many years to Queen 

 Alexandra. In the grounds of the Baptist College, 

 Regent's Park, are two Catalpas of comparatively large 

 size and evidently of about the same age. The 

 largest girths 5 feet 5 inches at a yard up and has been 

 carefully surrounded by brickwork in order that the 

 soil which was added when the lawn was levelled 

 might not prove injurious. They are of the usual 

 flat-headed, wide-spreading description that is so 

 characteristic of this tree. A Catalpa in the grounds 

 at Fulham Palace has a branch spread of 48 feet, 

 the stem girthing 5 feet 9 inches at a yard up. 



Probably the largest Catalpa tree in the City is 

 that growing in the garden at Finsbury Circus. It 

 is fully 30 feet in height, with a clean well-built stem 

 that girths 4 feet 8 inches at a yard from the ground. 



