Chestnuts^ Beeches, Sj-c, m Great Britaiji. 583 



flora. To enable us to determine this for ourselves, specimens of the leaves 

 may be sent us, in a franked letter. The Abbot's Oak at Woburn Abbey, 

 seen by us September 26. 1836 ; vi'hen we found it to be Quercus TJobur 

 pedunculata, in a vigorous state, and ripening acorns. Height 30 ft. or 40 ft. ; 

 diameter of the trunk 6 ft. or 7 ft. ; and supposed age upwards of 500 

 years. The Great Ash at Woburn Abbey, Duke of Bedford, is 90 ft. high, 

 the girt of the trunk 23 ft. 6 in., and the diameter of the head 113 ft. Cubic 

 contents 872 ft. 



Buckinghamshire. — The Burnham Beeches, Lord Grenville. This beau- 

 tiful tract of woodland is four miles from Stoke Pogis, and is celebrated as the 

 scene of Gray's poetic musings. {Time's Telescope, p. 76.) Queries as above, 

 as to one or more of the principal trees. 



Denbighshire. — A yew tree in Gresford churchyard, near Wrexham, is 

 29 ft. in girt, at 3 ft. from the ground ; height 52 ft. ; diameter of the head 36 ft. 

 — J. E. Bowman. July 1. 1836. 



Essex. — The large Oak at Hemstead, is 99 ft. high ; the circumference of 

 the trunk, at 4 ft. from the ground, 51 ft. ; and the diameter of the head 100 ft. 

 (Ge7it. Mag., March, 1802, p. 213.) Queiies as above. 



Gloucestershire. — The Tortworth Chestnut, Lord Ducie, is supposed to be 

 above 1000 years old; and it measures 52ft. in circumference at 5ft. from 

 the ground. The solid contents are 1965 feet. (Strutt, p. 85.) Queries 

 as above. 



The Boddington Oak grows in a piece of rich grass land, called the Old 

 Orchard Ground, belonging to Boddington Manor Farm, lying near the turn- 

 pike-road between Cheltenham and Tewkesbury. " The stem is remarkably 

 collected and close at the root, the sides of its trunk being more upright 

 than those of large trees in general ; nevertheless, its circumference at the 

 ground, as near to it as one can walk, is 20 paces : measuring with a 2-foot 

 rule, it is somewhat more than 18 yards. At 3-ft. high, it measures 42 ft.; 

 and at its smallest dimensions, namely, from 5 ft. to 6 ft. high, it is 36 ft. At 

 about 6 ft. it begins to swell out larger, forming an enormous head, which 

 heretofore has been furnished with huge, and in all probability extensive, arms. 

 But age and ruffian winds have robbed it of a principal part of its grandeur ; 

 and the greatest extent of arm at present (1783) is 8 yards from the stem. 

 From the ground to the top of the crown of the trunk is about 12 ft.; and the 

 greatest height of the branches, by estimation, 45 ft. The stem is quite hol- 

 low ; being, near the ground, a perfect shell ; forming a capacious, well-sized 

 room ; which at the floor measures, one way, more than 16 ft. in diameter. 

 The hollowness, however, contracts upwards, and forms itself into a natural 

 dome, so that no light is admitted except at the door, and at an aperture or 

 window in the side. It is still perfectly alive and fruitful, having this year a 

 fine crop of acorns on it. It is observable in this (as we believe it is in most 

 old trees), that its leaves are remarkably small ; not larger, in general, than 

 the leaves of the hawthorn." (^Planting and Rural Ornament, vol. ii. p. 299.) 

 Queries as above. 



An oak at Standish, near Stroud, comes into leaf every year in February, 

 and may be worth your enquiring about. {W. T. B. Allesley Rectory, Sept. 

 21. 1836.) Queries as above. 



Piflfe's Elm, according to Marshal, is the largest fine-leaved elm in the 

 Vale of Gloucester. It stands in the road between Cheltenham and Tewkes- 

 bury, within a few hundred yards of the Boddington Oak. The turnpike- 

 gate, the fence belonging to which is " fastened at one end to this tree, takes 

 its name from it, being called ' PifFe's Elm Pike.' The smallest girt of this 

 tree, which is at about 5 ft. high, is, at present (1783), exactly 16 ft. At 

 10 ft. high, it throws out large arms, which have formerly been lopped, but 

 which now are furnished with tree-like shoots, rising, by estimation, to 70 ft. 

 or 80 ft. high, with an extent proportionable ; exhibiting altogether the 

 grandest tree we have seen ; not so much from its present size, as from that 

 fullness of vigour which it now wears." We mention Pifle's Elm " the 



