224 



THE HAWTHORN. 



sioned by the splitting and giving way of the 

 trunk, and not by growth. Loudon, quoting 

 Marsham, says, ^ One arm of it extending above 

 seven yards : ' — there is now a branch which ex- 

 tends six yards. At five feet from the ground 

 the girth is sixteen feet three inches, an excess 

 beyond Grigor's measurement to be accounted for 

 as above stated. At one foot from the ground, 

 it is tw^elve feet two inches. — The present circum- 

 ference of the branches is thirty-one yards ; the 

 longest diameter of them, ten yards and tw^o feet, 

 and the height about eighteen feet." 



Grigor also mentions another interesting Thorn, 

 which stands in the churchyard of St. Michael's 

 at Thorn, Norwich, and which bears the marks 

 of great antiquity. Though situated in a thickly 

 populous district of the city, blackened with 

 dust, it is found every year at its appointed time 

 mantled with sweet May. It has undergone little 

 alteration in appearance during the last half-cen- 

 tury ; and, as some kind hand has placed a hoop 

 of iron round its shattered stem, it bids fair to 

 withstand the inroads of time for many years to 

 come. 



In the mountainous parts of Derbyshire, called 

 Woodlands, stands a Hawthorn which affords a 

 curious instance of the provision made by Nature 

 for the support of a decayed tree. It once had a 

 large and stout trunk, but at the time when it 

 was observed was quite hollow^, both wood and 

 bark being decayed and lifeless ; but the foliage 

 was supported in full vigour by a root about 

 three inches in diameter, which had descended 

 through the hollow and performed the functions 

 of a stem. 



