SYLVAN GIANTS, 311 



'Famed Fortingall, whose aged Yew 

 Still braves the tempest's shock.' 



The Horse Chestnut has scarcely obtaiued 

 fame amongst sylvan giants ; but one mentioned 

 by Mr. Hunter is qualified to enter the list. He 

 thinks it is the largest in Scotland, if not in 

 Britain. At five feet from the ground it girths 

 nineteen feet, and at a foot from the ground 

 twenty feet six inches ! 



Giants, however, as, amongst their species, 

 the trees we have enumerated are, they are com- 

 paratively insignificant when compared with 

 the enormous Wellingtonias. We shall there- 

 fore fitly close this chapter by an interesting 

 and most instructive extract from Mr. W. G. 

 Marshall's most interesting book 'Through 

 America.' The excerpt is from the chapter 

 entitled 'The Giant Trees of Calaveras.' Mr. 

 Marshall says, — 



'The Calaveras Grove contains between 

 ninety and a hundred "big" specimens "of the 

 WelUngtonia, or Sequoia gigantea, which spring 

 up in the thick forest comparatively cloSe to 

 each other, all within an area of fifty acres. 



