Prunus 1539 



At Dynevor Castle there are many fine cherry trees in the slopes round the 

 ruins, and I was told by the late Lord Dynevor that one was blown down in 1889 

 which at three feet from the ground was no less than 12 ft. 9 in. in girth. At 

 Dufifryn, near Cardiff, Mr. Coomber^ measured in 1896 a tree 82 ft. high by 8 ft. 

 3 in. at five feet from the ground, with a bole 35 ft. high. 



In Scotland the cherry is always called gean. The largest that I have seen is on 

 the flat near the Tay at Murthly Castle, a tree 65 ft. by 11 ft. 5 in., with a bole of 9 ft. 

 The main limb of this tree has decayed, and, in 1908, had a mountain ash about 

 15 ft. high growing out of the decayed stump. At Duns Castle, Berwickshire, 

 there is a remarkably large tree which I am informed by Mr. J. Ferguson 

 measures 42 ft. by 13 ft. 6 in. and still bears fruit, though not so much as it did 

 60 or 70 years ago, when the fruit of these trees was more valued in Scotland than 

 it is now. At Gribton, near Dumfries, the seat of H. Lamont, Esq., Henry 

 measured a tree, 56 ft. high by no less than 12 ft. 8 in. in girth, whose branches 

 spread to a diameter of 70 ft. 



At Gordon Castle there is a very fine old tree near the house 50 to 60 ft. high, 

 which girths at two feet from the ground, where there is a large swelling, 14 ft. 

 2 in., and 10 ft. 5 in. at five feet. At Ardkinglas I have seen a fine old cherry by 

 the garden wall which had a very large burr on the trunk. 



At Mauldslie Castle, Lanarkshire, Mr. Renwick in 1899 measured a tree 52 ft. 

 high and 13 ft. 2 in. in girth. In 1903, it was reported^ to be in a state of decay, 

 the trunk splitting, but supported by an iron band. 



In Ireland, a most remarkable grove of cherry trees exists at Clonmannon, Co. 

 Wicklow, though only ten survive out of the fifty which originally grew here on about 

 an acre of lawn. The largest measured, in 1907, 70 ft. high by 10 ft. 10 in. in 

 girth. Another was 55 ft. high and 12 ft. in girth at three feet from the ground, above 

 which it divides into five great stems. Hayes ^ records at the same place in 1794, 

 a cherry tree of the Upton-mazard kind, no less than 15 ft. in girth at five feet from 

 the ground, being the largest cultivated cherry tree that I have ever heard of. At 

 Mount Usher, a tree dividing into two stems near the ground, 5 ft. 10 in., and 7 ft. 

 2 in. in girth respectively, was 62 ft, high in 1903. The girth of the main stem at 

 the base was 11 ft. 3 in. in 1908. 



At Glenstal, Co. Limerick, a tree in a wood, clear of branches to thirty feet, 

 was 69 ft, by 6 ft. 3 in. in 1903. At Bunratty, Co. Clare, Mr. R. A. Phillips 

 measured a tree on 14th May 1905, when it was in full flower, 70 ft. in height and 

 iij ft. in girth, with a spread of branches fifty-seven feet in diameter. 



Though the cultivated varieties of cherry never, in England at least, seem to 

 attain the size of the wild cherry, yet in some districts they become very large. 

 In Nash's orchard at George's Green near Slough I saw, on 23rd July 1908, a 

 tree (Plate 355) at least 60 ft. high by 9 ft. 4 in. in girth. The fruit was being 

 gathered with the help of a ladder with 'j'] rungs, and the men informed me that 

 in this orchard no less than loi sieves (25 pounds to the sieve) had been gathered 



• Gard. Chrgn. xx. 664 (1896). "^ Trans. Nat. Hist. Sot. Glasgow, vii. 83 (1903). 



3 Treatise on Planting, 127 (1794). 



