58 



been barked by cattle all round, I should 

 suppose twenty or twenty-five years before, 

 since the surface of the barked part was 

 rotten, and might be picked off. Mr. King, 

 steward to Mr. Spicer, to whom the tree 

 belongs, said that he had recollected the 

 tree in this state for eighteen years. 



The head of the tree was in full foliage, 

 and at the end of some branches, which 

 had been cropped by cattle the previous 

 year, had shot six or seven inches. The 

 girth of the barked part of the stem was 

 thirteen inches and seven eighths. The 

 girth below the barked part was twenty- 

 two inches and a quarter, and above the 

 barked part, twenty-nine inches. The 

 tree had ceased to deposit new growth on 

 the old scar, which I attribute to the rot- 

 tenness of the surface of the scar, and to 

 its having mouldered away from under the 

 living bark. I think it probable that if a 

 new surface was veneered over the old scar 



