156 



The Forest Trees of Wiltshire. 



tho writer is inclined to believe the very contrary to be the fact. 

 It is very fragrant, and far superior to any other wood for the 

 insides of chests of drawers, of wardrobes, or for any other like] 

 purpose where its fine scent would be agreeable to the senses, and 

 according to common opinion, be a preservative against the ravages 

 of the moth, or rather of its relative the grub. One reason why 

 it is not more commonly planted may be its price, but that arises 

 from the limited demand for it, for with an increased demand 

 the price would soon be greatly decreased. Another and a more 

 potent reason, is its slowness of growth during its early years. 



The Yew, so celebrated in olden times for affording the best 

 bows for the soldiery of the day ; for the British yeomen, or yew- 

 men, as well as for those " merry men " of England, led by Robin 

 Hood and other gentlemen of similar tastes and propensities, ought 

 not to be passed over in silence ; and as this tree somewhat resem- 

 bles the Pine family, it may as well be mentioned in this place. 

 Many counties boast of wonderful specimens of this tree. One, in 

 Braburne churchyard, Kent, was measured by Evelyn, who found 

 it to be fifty-eight feet eleven inches in circumference : its supposed 

 age being 3000 years. Some out-of-the-way corner of "Wiltshire 

 may possess a patriarch of equal size and age. Who knows ? But 

 the writer will confine himself to two which he has seen ; mere 

 pigmies it is true, when compared with their Kentish brother ; but 

 still very large trees. One of them stands near the Corsley en- 

 trance to Longleat Park, in a garden adjoining the high road. It 

 has little or no top, the branches having been unmercifully lopped 

 away, till the nearly bare trunk is almost all that remains. But 

 that trunk — which seems to be sound — is of very respectable di- 

 mensions, measuring at three feet from the ground, twenty-four 

 feet in circumference ; and close to the ground some six or eight 

 feet more. The other, not quite so large, but a much handsomer 

 tree, having a fair sized and tolerably uniform head, is in the 

 churchyard at Edington, near Bratton. It is about six feet high 

 up to the springing out of the branches, with apparently a sound 

 trunk, which measures rather more than twenty-two feet in cir- 

 cumference, at four feet from the ground. 



