282 CORRESPONDENCE OF GILBERT WHITE 



clear stems 4, 5 ths of their height: which runs them too like to 

 hop-poles. And perhaps the venerable Oak which stood in 

 the Plestor, was the very shape i wish a single Tree to be ! I 

 remember an Oak of Mr Leman's at North hall in Hertford- 

 shire, that spread a circle of about 130 feet diameter. And 

 the Bp of Bath & Wells * informed me, that the Bp of 

 Salisbury's Oak spread 115 feet in the longest diameter, & 

 112 in the shortest ; & appeared at a distance a perfect semi- 

 globe. Although i am much pleas'd with your view of 

 Selborne, & the description you give of it, yet the great 

 quantity of rain that falls there, is a strong drawback to the 

 pleasure of living, above 50 inches in 1782, & last year 

 almost 45, seems to me very extraordinary; as 'tis above 

 double what D r Arbuthnot supposes falls upon the Grlobe viz. 

 22 inches. Essay on Air. p. 88. where you find but 19 inches 

 at Paris. Indeed, when i was last in Scotland (about fi 

 weeks) it was every day rain, more or less. We had a good 

 deal of rain last Winter, tho' little laying snow, whilst the 

 papers spoke of much, both in the North & West. — The 

 Spring has been very watery, and still continues, to the grief 

 of the Farmers, for their Hay: & notwithstanding these rains, 

 i find the season has not been kind to my Trees. All sorts 

 appear not in good health. My favourite Beeches appear 

 brown rather than green, from the abundance of Mast, & 

 very few have as yet increased an inch in circumf. A Cedar 

 had gained an inch & half on y e 5 th but my best Oaks not 

 above half an inch. For Indications of Spring. Jan. 25 

 Snowdrop F. y e 29 th at Selburne. Jan. 30 th Hepatica F. 21* 

 at Selburne, — Feb. 11 Crocus F. at Selburne. Feb. 4 Crocus 

 b. Feb. 12 brimston Butterfly, at Selburne Feb. 13. Mar. 21. 

 Daffodil F. at Selburne Mar. 1G. Perhaps my deafness 

 might deprive my hearing of Spring Birds, but i have heard 

 hardly any Thrushes this year; & i heard not the Fern Owl, 

 'till June 26. Here i must observe with mortification that 



* [Charles Moss, Bishop of St. David's, 1700, Bishop of Bath and 

 Wells, 1770, died 1802. Marsham's communication, before mentioned, 

 to the Royal Society, on washing trees was in the form of a letter to him. 

 —A. N.] 



