The Forest Trees of Wiltshire. 



155 



vated into the first rank of ornamental if not of good timber 

 trees, for the writer has a strong impression that the wood is 

 inferior. Take size: — the circumference of the stem of the one 

 now under notice is seventeen feet, at one foot from the ground ; 

 and at four feet from the ground it is eighteen feet. At six 

 feet from the ground, the main trunk divides into a number of 

 large limbs, some of immense size, which diverge in all directions, 

 from a perpendicular to a horizontal, giving the head a form 

 resembling a half globe, and forming a complete canopy to 

 the ground on all sides, covering a space eighty feet in 

 diameter. Nothing can exceed the exquisite beauty of this tree, 

 the cheerful early foliage of which contrasts most agreably with 

 the glaucous hue of the surrounding cedars. In winter its 

 freshness is most pleasing, and in summer it affords a cool and 

 impenetrable shade from the sun's rays. No trees were so broken 

 by the snow and wind, in this neighbourhood, during the fatal 

 storm when the " London " went down, as the evergreen Oaks. 



As an encouragement to plant this noble tree, — many hesitating 

 to do so on account of its supposed slow growth, and therefore of 

 the improbability of its attaining any great size in their lifetime, — 

 it may be mentioned that there is a Cedar of Lebanon in the gar- 

 den at Round way Park, which was planted by the late Mr. Estcourt 

 either in commemoration of his marriage, or of the birth of his 

 eldest son, the Right Hon. T. H. S. Sotheron Estcourt, late M.P. 

 for North Wilts. The latter event took place in 1801, therefore 

 the tree has not been planted above 65 or 66 years. It is not a 

 very lofty tree, for it branches out at a few feet from the ground ; 

 but it has a fine spreading head, and is probably fifty feet high or 

 more. The trunk just below the branches measures twelve feet in 

 circumference. Would any of our common trees have made a 

 greater growth ? Unhesitatingly it may be said that they would 

 not. What a pity then that such a noble, historical, beautiful, and 

 picturesque tree should not be more generally planted ! The pre- 

 judice entertained by some that the wood is worthless, because it 

 is white and somewhat soft is quite unfounded, for it is not so : 

 indeed, from experience — a very limited amount of it certainly — 



