462 



NOTES AND ILLUSTUATIONS. 



Tewkesbury, in the Vale of Gloucester, measured more than eighteen 

 yards close to the ground ; and at three feet, fourteen yards. It was 

 unfortunately burned down in 1790. — See Transactions of the Bath 

 Society, vol. ii. ; Marshall's Planting and Rural Ornament, vol. ii. p. 299. 

 It is worthy of remark, that these wonderful trees all grow in deep rich 

 meadow ground, which yields the richest and most luxuriant pasture- 

 grass. 



In Scotland, we never could boast of any thing like these. Probably 

 Wallace's Oak, in the Torwood, near Stirling, was among the largest 

 trees we ever had, the girth of which, a short way from the ground, 

 seems to have been about twelve yards. The list, preserved by Evelyn, 

 of the ancient oaks existing in his time, is extremely curious. But the 

 accounts which come the nearest to the present day, are by Marsham 

 and Gilpin ; but particularly by the latter, in his remarks on forest 

 scenery, where the examples which he quotes are illustrated by very 

 interesting historical evidence. 



Note III. Page 291* 



The Querciis Rohiir pedimculata, or Stalk-fruited or upright Oak, is 

 placed in the Linnaean system among the Moncecia polyandria. It is 

 described by one of our most accurate botanists, as Quercus foUis 

 deciduis ohlongiSy superne latiorihus, simibiis acutioribus, angulis ohtusis, 

 pedimcuUs friictiferis elongatis. — Smith, Flor. Britan. iii. p. 1026. 

 The Quercus Bohur sessilis, or Sessile-fruited or spreading Oak, is 

 described as Foliis petiolatis deciduis ohlongis, sinuhus acutioribus 

 oppositisy fructibus sessilibus. — Id. ibid. 



The Quercus muscosa, or Mossy-cup Oak, not being a native of 

 Britain, has not the advantage of the same author's accuracy of deli- 

 neation. It seems to have escaped the diligence of Professor Martyn, 

 unless he has described it under the head of Quercus cegilops, as coming 

 from the Levant, and cultivated by Miller in 1731. I have heard of trees 

 of this sort, four feet in diameter, being cut down at Mount Edgecumbe 

 in Devonshire ; but the American is a better and more hardy tree. It 

 has long deciduous leaves, still more deeply sinuated than those of the 

 two British kinds, also irregularly jagged, and having longer foot- 

 stalks. The acorns are of an elongated oval shape, nearly enveloped by 

 the cup, which is very large, and covered with scales, M^tli the points 

 mostly bent backwards, terminating in filaments at the border of the 

 cup. 



The kinds of Oak which the intelligent Dr Yule of Edinburgh, and 

 the Committee of the Horticultural Society, recommend to be more 



