Quercus 1 295 



girth, with bark 20 cm. thick, and supposed to be 400 years old. This tree has 

 produced as much as 800 litres of acorns in one year. The cork tree is known in 

 Portugal as sobreiro, and in Spain as alcornoque or suro in Catalonia, and sobreiro in 

 Galicia. 



I did not see or hear of any cork trees either in the south-west of France, or on the 

 Riviera, which approached the dimensions above given. In the Esterel mountains 

 between Cannes and Frejus, where it is abundant, the trees rarely exceed about 

 50 ft. in height and 10 ft. in girth. There is a large cork tree in the Botanic Garden 

 at Florence, believed to have been planted in 1805. When I saw it in February 

 1910, it measured 80 ft. by iqI ft,, with a clean trunk about 20 ft, high, and a well- 

 shaped spreading crown. 



Cultivation 



I am informed by M. Marc Bazille of Montpellier that all the attempts which 

 have been made in the south of France to graft the cork oak upon the Ilex, 

 with the object of extending its cultivation to the calcareous soils of Provence, have 

 failed, and this is confirmed by Prof Flahault. 



The cork oak is said^ to have been introduced in 1 699 by the Duchess of Beau- 

 fort ; but the present Duchess, who has been good enough to search the archives 

 at Badminton, was not able to find anything relating to the introduction. Judging 

 from the age of many existing trees it must have become fairly common early in 

 the eighteenth century. It seems to have been usually grown from acorns, which are 

 commonly produced in the warmer parts of the south of England and usually ripen 

 in the second season.^ Though it has in one place reproduced itself naturally, 

 it is best to sow the acorns in pots or in a frame, as the seedlings require protection 

 for two or three years at least. 



In England the largest^ is the splendid tree at Mamhead Park near Exeter, 

 the seat of Sir R. Newman, Bart., which is now about 60 ft. by 15 ft. 2 in. in girth 

 (Plate 328). This noble specimen grows on red loam at an elevation of at least 

 400 ft., and is exposed on all sides. A second tree about 50 ft. by 11^ ft. grows 

 near it. At Haldon House, near Exeter, there is a tree only second in size to the one 

 at Mamhead, and even more perfect in shape. In 1908 it was 60 ft. by 9 ft. 4 in., 

 and looked very healthy. At Sidmouth Miss Woolward has photographed a tree 

 over 60 ft. high and 9 ft. 4 in. in girth ; and at Powderham, Killerton, and other 

 places in south Devonshire, there are trees nearly as large. At Tregothnan, 

 Mr. A. B. Jackson measured a tree 58 ft. by 9 ft. in 1908. 



At Sherborne Castle, Dorset, there is a tree in the walk, east of the old castle, 

 which has been rather drawn up by other trees, and in 1909 was 59 ft. by 8 ft. 2 in. 

 At Claremont there is another which is fast decaying, and of no great height, 

 whose trunk measured in 1903 no less than 16 ft. in girth. 



At Pains Hill, in Surrey, there is a fair-sized tree which has reproduced itself 

 naturally from seed, and healthy seedlings were growing in the grass near it in 1903. 



1 Alton, Hort. Km), v. 289 (1813). 

 2 Judging from the few specimens, which we have seen, with ripe fruit. ' Cf. p. 1286. 



