SYLVAN GIANTS. 281 



tioned tree he says : ' It is about 200 years old, and 

 has a height of seventy feet, and contains about 

 460 cubic feet of timber. The girth at one,-^oot 

 from the ground, exclusive of all excrescences, is 

 twenty-three feet, and the girth at the narrowest 

 part of the bole, about seven feet from the ground, 

 is seventeen feet. At about nine feet from the 

 ground, the tree breaks into two great limbs, the 

 larger of which girths thirteen feet, the other 

 being very nearly the same size. The spread of 

 branches^ is about 100 feet.' Mr. Hunter adds : 

 ' The soil here is black loam, with a sub-soil of 

 sandy loam. The exposure is southerly, and the 

 tree is sheltered from other quarters by rising 

 ground and adjacent trees. It is altogether a 

 splendid Elm, and is so much prized that 50Z. was 

 offered for it about forty years ago.' 



Of giant Larches, Gilpin gives us some account, 

 reference to which will be interesting, in order to 

 compare with accounts of present-day Larches. 

 lie says, — ' When Tiberius built his naumachia,and 

 had occasion for large beams in several parts of 

 his work, he endeavoured to collect them from the 

 vai^ious forests of the empire. Among other 



