THE ELM. 67 



fordshire : "In the road leading from Tutbury 

 to Rolleston is a very large and beautiful Wych- 

 Elm, the bole of which is remarkably straight, 

 thick, and lofty ; having eight noble branches, the 

 size of common trees, which spread their umbra- 

 geous foliage luxuriantly around, forming a magni- 

 ficent and graceful feature, both in the near and 

 distant prospect. This, if not at present, will, in 

 a few years, be as great a curiosity in the vegeta- 

 ble world, as the famous Wych-Elm at Field, de- 

 scribed by Doctor Plott." 



The trunk of this tree is twelve feet long, and 

 sixteen feet nine inches in circumference, at the 

 height of five feet from the ground ; seven feet higher, 

 the trunk divides into the " eight noble branches;" 

 they are nearly fifty feet high, and extend between 

 forty and fifty feet from the centre of the tree, 

 which contains six hundred and eighty-nine cubic 

 feet of timber. The interest that this beautiful 

 object imparts to the spot on which it stands, is 

 increased by the pleasing prospect of Tutbury Castle, 

 which lifts its venerable remains in the distance, and 

 awakens a train of interesting reflections, on the vir- 

 tues of one of its earliest owners, " Time-honored 

 Lancaster," and the vicissitudes to which it has been 

 exposed, during the ages that have now left it only 

 the vestige of what it was, in the days of feudal 

 greatness. 



