THE OAK. 



73 



tion on a brass plate affixed to the Winfartliing 

 Oak gives us the following as its dimensions : 

 ' This Oak, in circumference, at the extremities 

 of the roots, is seventy feet, in the middle, forty 

 feet, 1820." Now, I see no reason, if the size of 

 the rind is to be any criterion of age, why the 

 Winfar thing should not, at least, equal the Bent- 

 ley Oak ; and if so, it would be upwards of seven 

 hundred years old at the Conquest ; an age which 

 might very well justify its then title of the ' Old 

 Oak.' It is now a mere shell, a mighty ruin, 

 bleached to a snowy white, but it is magnificent 

 in its decay. The only mark of vitality it exhi- 

 bits is on the south side, where a narrow strip of 

 bark sends forth a few branches, which even now 

 occasionally produce acorns. It is said to be very 

 much altered of late ; but I own I did not think 

 so when I saw it about a month ago (May 1836) ; 

 and my acquaintance with the veteran is of more 

 than forty years' standing : an important portion 

 of my life, but a mere span of its own." 



In a glade of Hainhault Forest, in Essex, 

 about a mile from Barkingside, stands an oak, 

 which has been known through many centuries 

 by the name of Fairlop. The tradition of the 

 country traces it half-way up the Christian era. 

 It is still a noble tree, though it has now^ suffered 

 greatly from the depredations of time. About a 

 yard from the ground, where its rough fluted stem 

 is thirty-six feet in circumference, it divides into 



and in the same soil. The increase of diameter varies yet again when 

 the trunk has become even partially hollow ; for in this case the pres- 

 sure arising from the new wood which is deposited under the bark 

 acts in an inward as well as an outward direction ; consequently the 

 annual increase of diameter is retarded, though not in a known ratio. 



