OF SELBOENE. 531 



indeed to have been noticed in my book, and especially as 

 it contains some account of that forest. 1 You have been 

 an early planter indeed ! and may safely say, I should 

 think, that no man living can boast of so large an oak 

 of his own planting ! 2 As I had reason to suppose that 

 actual measurement would give me the best idea of your 

 tree, I first took the girth of my biggest oak, a single tree, 

 age not known, in the midst of my meadow : when though 

 it carries a head that measures twenty-four yards three 

 ways in diameter ; yet is the circumference of the stem only 

 10ft. Gin. I then measured an oak, standing singly in a 

 gentleman's outlet at about two miles distance, and found it 

 exactly the dimensions of yours. After such success you 

 may well say with Virgil, 



"Et dubitant homines serere, atque impendere curas?" 

 In an humble way I have been an early planter myself. 

 The time of planting, and growth of my trees are as follows : 

 Oak, in 1731, 4ft. 5 in. ; ash, in!731, 4ft.6Jin.; spruce 

 fir, in 1751, 5 ft. ; beech, in 1751, 4 ft.; elm, in 1750, 5 ft. 

 3 in.; lime, in 1756, 5 ft. 5 in. 3 Beeches with us, the most 

 lovely of all forest trees, thrive wonderfully on steep, 

 sloping grounds, whether they be chalk or freestone. I am 

 in possession myself of a beechen steep grove on the free- 

 stone, that I am persuaded would please your judicious eye ; 

 in which there is a tree that measures fifty feet without 

 bough or fork, and twenty-four feet beyond the fork ; there 

 are many as tall. I speak from long observation when I 

 assert, that beechen groves to a warm aspect grow one- 

 third faster than those that face to the N. and N.E., and 



1 See Letter IX. to Pennant, pp. 29-32, and the " Observations on 

 Vegetables," pp. 356-357. ED. 



2 This oak of Marsham's will be found noticed in the " Observations 

 on Vegetables," p. 356, where White has quoted a letter from Marsham 

 on the subject, dated " Stratton, 24 July, 1790," to which it would seem 

 the present letter is a reply. ED. 



3 These dates and measurements, with a slight discrepancy, have been 

 published in the " Observations on Vegetables " p. 356, above referred 

 to. ED. 



