372 OUR WOODLAND TREES. 
banks of the Ohio, measured round its trunk forty- 
seven feet, carrying this enormous circumference 
to a height of twenty feet from the ground, and 
then commencing to branch. Those who have 
seen the Western Plane growing in England, have 
doubtless often noticed the great length of its 
unbranched stem. In America it is by no means 
uncommon for specimens of this Tree to produce 
an unbranched trunk reaching to a height of as 
much as eighty feet. To attain a favourable 
growth, this Tree should have, as we have said, a 
moist soil, if possible near water, with plenty of 
depth for rooting, though it is essential that the 
soil should be ‘free.’ It will not thrive in ex- 
posed places, especially if these are elevated. A 
sheltered position is the most suitable for it, even 
though the shelter may be furnished by tall city 
buildings. The City of London will furnish many 
examples of prosperous Planes growing in the most 
dismal parts of the district. A Tree, in the square 
adjoining Stationers’ Hall Court, will afford an 
illustration of this remark, and there is another 
and a finer Tree in a garden at the rear of the 
Stationers’ Hall, in a yet more confined position. 
