Grigor's Eastern Arhoretum. 667 



rous interesting passages to give two sentences from Mr. Grigor's conclusion. 

 " In our opinion, then, this eastern dwelling has no rival, either at home or 

 abroad, to which in any respect we can compare it. It stands alone, a 

 monument of English opulence and taste." 



Our Trees. — No. 3. Betula alba and B. a. pendula. — The proper 

 province of this tree, Mr. Grigor remarks, " is amongst rocks and ravines, 

 or by some glassy stream far away from the haunts of men j for we can never 

 bring ourselves to think that it appears at home beside our dwellings." In 

 this sentiment we concur, and the reason is, that, like Mr. Grigor, we have 

 been in the habit of seeing the birch in its native habitats in mountainous 

 countries, and the associations thus established in the mind are so peculiar 

 and so strong, that we never have been able to consider the common birch a 

 fit inhabitant of ornamental grounds of any description. Persons who are 

 natives of the level fertile country of England, we know, have no such 

 associations. 



" The most remarkable trees of the weeping species in Britain are grouped 

 about the Findhorn, a noble and rapid river near to Forres, in the North of 

 Scotland, where the tree rises to the height of from 60 ft. to 70 ft., and girting 

 on an average about 1 1 ft. Some of the branches of those trees display 

 pendent masses of spray 10 ft. in length, adding a graceful variety of verdure 

 to scenes in themselves of great beauty." 



" We are sorry to banish such an object from our homes ; but it cannot, 

 with any propriety, be introduced in our cultivated lawns. It has little fellow- 

 ship with other trees : even with the weeping willow, a tree which in many 

 respects it resembles, it forms a very unsuitable companion. It seems as if 

 Nature had peculiarly designed this tree only to fill up scenes which, in her 

 haste, she had left in an unfinished, or rather in a rugged state ; for it is in such 

 places exclusively that we naturally find it." 



" There is no tree which, when fairly started, will so completely overcome 

 the evil effects of greensward, weeds, hardness of soil, or the usual results of 

 negligence in rearing timber. This arises from an admirable provision of 

 nature, in having formed its bark much harder, or at least more durable, than 

 its wood. It is peculiarly, then, the tree of the waste and the desert, where 

 it may be planted and left to contend successfully with all adverse circum- 

 stances." 



Stratton Park, the Seat of Robert Marsham, Esq. — This place, celebrated 

 for upwards of a century, on account of its plantations of oaks, pines, and 

 most other kinds of trees, Mr. Grigor justly observes, may be characterised 

 as " the Arboretum of Norfolk." R. Marsham, Esq., F.R.S., grandfather 

 to the present proprietor, was born in 1707, began to plant before he had 

 attained the age of manhood, and died at the age of 90. It is easy to con- 

 ceive, that, under such circumstances, Stratton Park must be covered with 

 magnificent trees, and such, indeed, is the case, as appears both by the dimen- 

 sions given in our Arboretum, which were sent us by R. Marsham, Esq., the 

 present proprietor, and by the more numerous details in Mr. Grigor's work. 

 To this work we must refer the reader, though we cannot resist the tempt- 

 ation of giving one or two dimensions. A cedar of Lebanon, planted when 

 lift, high, in 1747, has a trunk of 44 ft. high free from branches, which 

 measures, at 2 yards from the ground, 12 ft. 2 in. in circumference. The 

 height of this tree, which is one of the handsomest in England, is 79 ft., and 

 it contains 10 loads of timber. A silver fir is 105 ft. high, another 104 ft.; 

 a spruce fir 95 ft. ; a common holly 60 ft., with a t unk 5\ ft. in circum- 

 ference, and 25 ft. in length ; a sweet chestnut 75 ft. high ; a weeping birch 

 girting 14 ft. 10 in., " a noble and graceful object;" a beech, of which an 

 engraving is given, has a trunk 6 ft. in diameter at 1 ft. from the ground, and 

 a head which covers' a space of 104 yards in circumference. After paying a 

 just tribute to the trees in general on this estate, Mr, Grigor observes : " We 

 sometimes wonder why it is not general amongst our public societies devoted 

 to improvement, either to offer prizes for the finest trees upon our lands, or 



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