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Muhleiiberjfia, Volume 7 



once respectful as we contemplate its age and the historic sur- 

 roundings in which it is situated. It is said to be about a thou- 

 sand years of age. There is no placard to indicate its interest 

 to the visitor to Hampton Court Palace and Park, and indeed 

 few of the hundreds of thousands of tourists who frequent the 

 spacious banquet halls and rooms of Cardinal Woolsey and 

 Henry VHI ever know of its whereabouts. You will also be 

 fortunate if you happen to meet an official who could direct you 

 or who knows anything about it. 



As it is probably one of the oldest oak trees in England, 

 and is situated in one of the old hunting parks of the royalty, 

 we can regard it with considerable botanical significance. 



Figure 11 An ancient English oak 

 The trunk is about forty-five feet round, and hollow in the 

 center sufficient to accommodate a dozen or more persons. The 

 black walls indicate that at some recent time it has either been 

 set on fire from within by careless boys, or it may have been 

 struck by lightning. 



When the photograph was taken, all the smaller branches 

 were coming into bud, while the large older ones were mostly 

 dead wood. 



Harnptun-on-'rhanies, Knglaiul, June i, 191 1. 



