20 GROWING GOLD. 



war as large as the Royal Sovereign, but where 

 will they find an oak tree like the one used in 

 the construction of that ship, and which came 

 from Framlingham, in Suffolk, squared four 

 feet nine inches, and whose length was forty- 

 four feet ? Mr. Jesse may have "a seat upon 

 the roots which help to support one of the old 

 magnificent oaks in Richmond Park," but it 

 is only in parks, and the immediate home 

 grounds of baronial mansions, that such trees 

 are to be found. This store has begun to di- 

 minish at a great rate, and most of the trees 

 have long past their prime, nay few, very few, 

 are quite sound, therefore they would turn but 

 to little account as timber. Humbolt, in his 

 work on South America, and other writers of 

 travels in newly explored countries, describe 

 "the vast impenetrable forest and immense 

 plains :" probably the one does not begin, nor 

 the other end, abruptly ; for even in this highly 

 cultivated country, to this day the close observer 

 may perceive that the thick and lofty woods 

 did not arise at once, exposed to the winds 

 from the open country. The advanced guard 



