'716 Queries and A?iswers. 



splendid portrait of the tree, drawn and engraved by Mr. Burgess, which 

 forms a frontispiece to the Salictum ; and the appearance of this portrait, 

 which has much more of the character of the beech than of a willow, induced 

 us to request a friend, who was going down to Lichfield in September last, 

 to make some enquiries respecting the tree; and to bring us, if possible, a 

 sketch of the present appearance of the young plant. In consequence, we 

 have received a sketch of the young tree in its present state ; a lithograph of 

 the old tree as it appeared before it was blown down ; and, subsequently, the 

 loan of an oil painting, referred to in the following letter, of the tree and the 

 surrounding scenery as it appeared in 1816. 



After the tree was blown down, in April, 1829, Mr. Holmes, a coachmaker 

 residing in Lichfield, and the proprietor of the ground on which Johnson's 

 Willow stood, regretting that there was no young tree to plant in its stead, 

 recollected that, the year before, a large branch had been blown down, part of 

 which had been used as pea-sticks in his garden ; and examined these, to see 

 if any of them had taken root. Finding that one had, he had it removed to 

 the site of the old tree, and planted there in fresh soil ; a band of music and a 

 number of persons attending its removal, and a dinner being given afterwards 

 by Mr. Holmes to his friends and the admirers of Johnson. The young tree 

 is, at present, in a flourishing state, and, as Mr. Grigor states above, 20 ft. 

 high. Our friend making but a very short stay at Lichfield, another, a 

 resident near that city, made further enquiries, and sent us a letter, from 

 which the following is an extract : — 



" Saturday morning I walked to Lichfield, to get further information 

 respecting the willow ; and Mr. Profitt introduced me to Mr. Stringer, who 

 made the drawings for the Gentleman' s Magazine, and who is very fond of 

 the arts. I find, also, that he made the drawings of the willow which were 

 sent to the Duke of Bedford, through the medium of Lady Chetwynd, for His 

 Grace's book. Mr. Stringer has drawings of the willow taken at various periods ; 

 and, from those collected and sent to the duke, the duke's artist compiled a tree ; 

 and, though the real tree was, at one period, verj' handsome, still it never was 

 symmetrical : it always leaned to the east, and was much fuller on one side 

 than the other. Mr. Stringer painted a small picture of it in 1816, which he will, 

 as well as his sister, vouch for the correctness of. In 1825, some boys made 

 a fire in the hollow of the tree; and Mr. Stringer, whose garden reaches near 

 there, saw the fire, and sent some of his men to extinguish it ; one of whom 

 had his shirt quite burned off before the engine arrived. The fire so injured 

 the tree, that it decayed rapidly afterwards ; and, in a violent storm, on 

 April 20. 1829, at three o'clock in the afternoon, it was blown down. From 

 what I now learn, and judge from all the drawings I have seen, the published 

 lithograph of the tree, which you have, was drawn when the tree lay on the 

 ground ; as Mr. Stringer has a sketch of it in its fallen state. I shall send you the 

 little oil painting of the tree to-night. It can come back when you have done 

 with it. Mr. Stringer will be happy to give any information in his power. 

 Mr. Profitt enquired of the nurseryman here as to whether the plant is 

 male or female. He is of opinion that it is the former, but he has never 

 observed any blossoms on the tree; nor had Mr. Stringer. You will perceive, 

 at once, that the duke's tree (of which Mr. Stringer showed me a copy, sent 

 him by the duke) could not have resembled, in the least, the tree as it stood 

 in 1828, it having been so much injured in 1825. — A. D. H. SJienstone,near 

 Lichfield, Sept. 12. 1836." 



Hybrids of the True Service. — Has any hybrid been yet produced between 

 the true service and the mountain ash, or any other of the services? — T. 0. M. 



The Papaw Tree has flowered in the Chelsea Garden, in the open air, for 

 some years ; but our summers are too cold for it to produce fruit. {^Philip 

 JMiller, in Gentleman's Magazine, vol. xxv., for 1755, p. 513.) Has any gar- 

 dener proved this ? I have always been in the habit of considering the 

 papaw tree as a hot-house plant. — A constant Reader. Feb. 1835. 



