THE CHESTNUT. 



27 



1965 feet ; but its true geometrical contents must 

 be much more. Young trees are now (1820) 

 nursing from the nuts which it bore three years 

 ago ; and it is to be hoped that their pedigree 

 will be preserved^ as none can boast more ancient 

 ancestry." 



Loudon tells us, that in the year 1836 the tree 

 was still in the same state as it was when drawn 

 by Mr. Strutt. 



Many other remarkable trees are described by 

 different authors, but of these it will not be 

 necessary to give more than a passing notice. 



One mentioned by Gilpin grows at a place 

 called Wimley, near Hitchin Priory, in Hert- 

 fordshire. In the year 1789, its girth, at five 

 feet above the ground, was upwards of forty- two 

 feet. Its trunk was hollow, and in part open; 

 but its vegetation still vigorous. 



The great Chestnut that stood at Finhaven, in 

 Forfarshire, was long accounted the largest tree 

 in Scotland. In the year 1760 a great part of 

 the trunk of this remarkable tree, and some of 

 its branches remained. In 1744 it measured, 

 at six inches above the ground, nearly forty-three 

 feet. As this Chestnut," says Lauder, appears 

 from its dimensions, to have been planted about 

 five hundred years ago ; it may be presumed to 

 be the oldest planted tree in Scotland." 



Two very remarkable trees at Cobham in Kent 

 are figured and described by Strutt in his Sylva 

 Britannica." One of these, called The Four 

 Sisters," from its four branching stems closely 

 combined in one massive trunk, stands in the 

 Heronry. It is the noble remains of a most mag- 

 nificent tree ; and though its head has paid for- 



