112 GROWING GOLD. 



As the evidence is given as it is found, 

 with references attached to it, the value is 

 considerably enhanced. 



Withers accounts for the rapid growth of 

 his tree, but he appears to have let the truth 

 escape by accident, without being fully aware 

 of the cause of its rapid growth. It stood 

 in one of the sweetest sunny spots of the 

 sweetest valley of our Highlands." He, how- 

 ever, attributes the rapid growth to the 

 adjacent spring of water. 



Mr. Jesse gives only the words before 

 quoted, and no more; the omission of the 

 inspector of parks and palaces, in not having 

 drawn the obvious inferences from the tree 

 he mentions, is very remarkable. These 

 statements place him in a peculiar position, 

 and particularly so when it is taken as a 

 guide to the state of the plantations made 

 under his directions. The former shows he 

 thinks the oak a fast growing tree ; the 

 latter that his opinion is, it is a slow growing 



