FOREST TREES. ^ j 



tree has fometimes grown to a vaft and very un- 

 common fize. * 



THE 



* In the deer park at Panmure, a little below tjie old cas- 

 tle, there now grow (1811) two very large and handsome 

 beeches ; the girth of the one, at three feet above the sur- 

 face of the ground, is 1 1. feet 9 inches, with a stem of 32 

 feet ; the girth of the other, at the same height, is 10 

 feet 6 incjhes, with a stem 51 feet long; both are quite 

 straight and clean. The extreme height of these superb 

 trees, is, by estimation, 90 feet. In another part of the 

 grounds of Panmure, there is a beech tree 26 feet 6 inches 

 in circumference at the surface of the ground, and, at 2 feet 

 high, 20 feet. Its stem divides, at the height of 9 feet, into 

 a very large head. The Ardkindglass beech, above alluded 

 to, is as large as this, with a much better stem, and finer 

 head. Excepting at Castle-Howard, in Yorkshire, (where 

 are certainly the finest), and at Woburn, in Bedfordshire, 

 we have seen no beeches to be compared with these. The 

 Spanish beech, in the Ray Wood at Castle-Howard, (so 

 called by Lord Carlisle from its resemblance to huge beech- 

 es in Spain), is in girth, at 3 feet high, 15 feet 2 inches; 

 stem 35 ; total height, by estimate, 90 feet. The largest 

 Woburn beech, at the same height, measures 1 1 feet 3 in- 

 ches in girth ; stem 50 feet ; total height, by estimate, 

 80 feet. These trees were both measured in summer 1810. 

 The beeches in the deer park at Panmure grow in alluvial 

 soil, being the deposition of a winding rivulet, and consisting 

 of a mixture of loam and gravel. The Ray Wood beech 

 at Castle-Howard grows on a loamy, elevated knoll ; the 

 Woburn beech on the hang of a sandy or gravelly knoll. 

 All the above trees seem in good health ; and it is impossi- 

 ble to guess at what size they may arrive. 



