VEGETABLES. 



357 



Marsham to be the biggest in this island, at seven feet 

 from the ground, measures in circumference thirty- four 

 feet. It has in old times lost several of its boughs, and is 

 tending to decay. Mr. Marsham computes, that at four- 



THE GRINDSTONE OAK, IN THE ROLT FOREST. 



teen feet length this oak contains one thousand feet of 

 timber. 1 



It has been the received opinion that trees grow in 



1 Mr. Bennett, in a note to this passage, says : " There are in the 

 Holt two great oaks ; one known as the Grindstone, and the other as 

 the Buck's Horn. The former, I apprehend, is the one measured by 

 Mr. Marsham. At about five feet from the ground its circumference is 

 fully thirty-six feet. It is now a ruin merely, and destitute altogether 

 of life : a massive ruin, however, which will resist, through generations 

 yet to come, the utmost force of the elements." ED. 



