294 



THE IVY. 



which was six feet in circumference at the base, 

 and divided into two great trunks, from two to 

 five feet in girth ; these trunks grew at first erect 

 and afterwards rested upon a wall. The branches 

 of this plant covered seventy-two square yards, 

 and the whole height was eighteen feet when De 

 Candolle examined it, but it had been larger ; he 

 estimated its age at four hundred and thirty-three 

 years. 



Near the ruins of Fountain's Abbey is an 

 aged Ash-tree, which is encircled by beautiful 

 Ivy in rich luxuriance, the stem of the latter 

 having attained the size of three feet two inches 

 in girth. 



