Gleditschia 1 5 1 9 



these wonderful woods in 1904, when I could find no tree of this species larger than 

 about 1 10 ft. by 9 ft. 



G. triacanthos is a very ornamental tree, with fine foliage, which turns a bright 

 golden yellow colour in autumn. It was first cultivated in England at Fulham, 

 where a tree planted by Bishop Compton about 1700 bore fruit ^ in 1729. Though 

 the seeds rarely if ever ripen in England, I have easily raised seedlings from French 

 seed by soaking them in water before sowing. The seedlings do not ripen their 

 wood in the open, and should be kept in a frame for two or three years. This 

 species does not appear to be long lived in our climate, as most of the old trees 

 mentioned by Loudon in 1838 cannot now be found. He figures one at Syon 

 57 ft. high, with a trunk 3 ft. in diameter ; but the largest tree ^ there now was only 

 46 ft. by 2 ft. in girth in 19 10. 



In England one of the finest trees is growing near the Palm House at Kew. 

 It measures 54 ft. by 6 ft. 10 in., and bears fruit occasionally. At Fawley Court a 

 fine tree with flaky bark, like that of a tree at Verrieres, and with very few spines, 

 was 74 ft. by 5 ft. 10 in. in 1905. An old tree at Arley Castle^ measured 51 ft. by 

 5 ft. 5 in. in 1904. At Belton, Grantham, Miss Woolward reports a tree 47 ft. by 

 4 ft. in 1907. 



Other large trees measured by me are at Bisterne Park, Hants, 62 ft. by 8 ft., 

 with a bole of 30 ft., decaying in 1906 ; at Ham Manor, Sussex, 60 ft. by 4 ft. 7 in. 

 in 1907 ; at Stowe, Bucks, 53 ft. by 4 ft. 10 in. in 1905 ; in the grounds of Wadham 

 College, Oxford, 53 ft. by 4^ ft. in 1907 ; and one of the same size at Bibury Rectory, 

 Gloucestershire, in 1908. 



In Wales the only large tree I have seen is a very fine one at Golden Grove, 

 65 ft. by 4|- ft., a healthy tree with very few spines. 



In Scotland and Ireland we have not seen any trees of note. 

 This species attains a large size, and produces fruit with good seed regularly in 

 the south of France and in Italy. In the neighbourhood of Parma it is used for 

 making formidable hedges. At Montpellier there is a fine specimen, narrowly 

 pyramidal in habit, very different in aspect from the usual form seen in cultiva- 

 tion. In the Bishop's garden at Beauvais I measured in 1908 a tree 80 ft. by 7 ft. ; 

 and at the Chateau de Geneste, near Bordeaux, in 1909, one 80 ft. by 8 ft. At 

 Schloss Dyck, in Germany, an even larger tree is reported," measuring about 90 ft. 

 by 7 ft. 



Timber 



The wood is heavy, hard, and strong, with a coarse open grain, reddish brown 

 at the heart with yellowish white sapwood. Being durable in the soil, it is used m 

 the United States for posts and rails and to a small extent for wheel hubs ; but I have 

 never seen or heard of it in the English timber market, and it is not likely to have 



1 Cf. London Catalogue of Trees, 87, plate 21 (I73°)- 



2 A. B. Jackson, Cat. Trees Syon House, 15 (igio)- 



3 R, Woodward, jun., Cat. Trees Arley Castle, 15 (1907)- 



4 Mitt. D. D. Ges. 1904, p. 18. 



2 B 

 VI 



