Common Oak 



307 



planted in 1720 is at one foot from the earth 12 feet 6 inches round, and at 14 feet 

 (the half of the timber length) is 8 feet 2 inches. So measuring the bark as timber 

 gives 116^ feet buyer's measure. Perhaps you never heard of a larger oak, and the 

 planter living. I flatter myself that I increased the growth by washing the stem, 

 and digging a circle as far as I supposed the roots to extend, and spreading sawdust, 

 etc., as related in the Phil. Trans, vol. Ixvii. p. 12." 



Blenkam^ mentions a remarkable instance of rapid growth: — "Three thriving 

 oaks, growing on a hard gravelly and poor soil, were felled in Nottinghamshire, 

 which on an average girthed 15 feet at three feet from the ground, and each tree 

 contained about 430 cubic feet. The trees were planted in 1692 or 1693, and were 

 about 149 years old when felled. They were perfectly sound and yearly increasing 

 in size." 



In a paper by Mr. Clayton^ a photograph is given of a section across the butt 

 of an oak felled at Ravenfield Park between Doncaster and Sheffield in 1885, which 

 had a butt 36 feet long without a branch, and an average diameter of 5 feet, and 

 which showed only 212 annual rings on a radius of 27! inches. If the actual age 

 of this tree was only 212 years, its growth must have been unusually rapid, and a 

 comparison of this with the section of the oak from Wistman's Wood (cf. p. 326) 

 shows how remarkably the growth of trees depends on their situation. 



As an illustration of the possible value of a hardwood plantation about forty acres 

 in area in the Sherwood Forest district, I am able to give the following particulars, for 

 which Mr. Doig, forester to Earl Manvers is my authority. In White's History 

 of Sherwood Forest the land in question is called " Robert Fitzorth's land." It now 

 goes by the name of Osland. It had been in cultivation previous to 1730, about 

 which time it was planted, or perhaps sown, with beech, oak, ash, chestnut, larch, and 

 spruce. The conifers had mostly been cut previous to 1846, before which time 

 there are no records of the value of the thinnings taken from it. Since then the 

 following have been cut or blown down : — 



Standing in 1903 



Oak 

 Beech 

 Chestnut . 

 Larch 



Total 



5706 



125,808 



;^8,i: 



British Timber Trees, 42 {1S62). 



- Trans. Bot. Soc. Ediu. \\\\. 396. 



