382 Some Records ofRemarkahle Trees. 



Mr John G. Grieve. After passing through the agreeable village of Dalston, 

 and not forgetting to mark, what the poet Southey had done previously, that 

 the river Caldewhere, has left unmistakeahle evidences of being a "most 

 ungovernable stream," I came to the outskirts, and there I was arrested by 

 the sight of a wonderful old Oak, of great bulk of bole, and wide spread of the 

 branches, growing in front of a mansion, which I since find is called ** The 

 Oaks," and forms the residence of the owner, Mr Richardson. In this patri- 

 arch of trees, there is no great height of the bole, but it is the stoutest tree 

 of the kind that ever I saw. It looked uniformly thick, till the great branches, 

 each of them the size of a tree, extended their umbrageous arms. The trunk 

 appeared to owe much of its bulk to the wood deposited by these great feeders 

 in their endeavours to re-root themselves in the soil, to which the short stem 

 permitted the readier access. Another great branch nearer the root had been 

 lopped off. After my return, the dimensions of this tree were obtained, and 

 I append them here, as being well worthy of being placed on record. 



The first measurement round the bottom of the tree is 22 feet ; the second 

 one, about 5 feet from that, is 22 feet ; then the third one, near to the branches, 

 is 18 feet 2 inches ; then come four branches : — 



No. 1, Branch, 9 feet 6 inches. 



No. 2, Branch, 7 feet 8 inches. 



No. 3, Branch, 8 feet 6 inches. 



No. 4, Branch, 7 feet. 

 There were other good oaks in the grounds, but I only saw them at a dis- 

 tance. 



In the Bishop of Carlisle's Park at Rose Castle, Oaks are the predominant 

 timber, and what 1 saw were very cleanly grown, and tall trees. The acorns 

 were plentiful this season, and I am told that great flocks of wood-pigeons in 

 autumn assemble to feed upon the store here provided. It is a secure retreat 

 for the Jay, whose frequent screaming betrays it into no danger of being 

 persecuted here. There is also a most populous rookery in the woods to the 

 north of the episcopal mansion. These are doubtless, some of them, descend- 

 ants of the rooks, about whom the Eev. Thomas Robinson, rector of Ousby in 

 Cumberland, in his " Essay towards a Natural History of Westmoreland and 

 Cumberland," 1709, speaks, as acting in the capacity of tree-planters, when 

 they had more acorns than they could immediately dispose of, by hiding them 

 for a future occasion ; — 



"About twenty. five years ago, coming from Rose Castle, early in the 

 morning, I observed a great number of crows very busy at their work, upon 

 a declining ground of a mossy surface. I went out of my way on purpose to 

 view their labours, and I found they were planting a grove of oaks. The 

 manner of their planting was thus : they first made Uttle holes in the earth 

 with their bills, going about and about, till the hole was deep enough, and 

 then they dropt in the acorn, and covered it with earth and moss. This 

 young plantation is now growing up to a thick grove of oaks, fit for use, and 

 of height fit for crows to build their nests in. I told it to the owner of the 

 ground, who observed them spring up, and took care to secure their growth 

 and rising." J, H, 



