OAKS AT ALDENHAM. 



203 



brother, which had taken place in the preceding April. By the time my 

 brother and the oak were in their forty-fourth year, i.e. in March 1890, 

 it had grown into an exceptionally fine shapely tree, which not only 

 spoilt the lawn-tennis or croquet ground, but also obscured all view 

 of the park from the drawing-room windows. My father wanted to 

 cut it down on utilitarian grounds, and my mother to preserve it on 

 sentimental ones. A compromise was arrived at, and it was decided 

 to attempt its removal to the park. This was a big undertaking, for 

 the English oak being such a bad mover when more than about ten 

 years old, it was hopeless to expect it to survive removal at forty-four 

 unless a very large ball of earth accompanied the roots. I -cannot 

 now say with any certainty how heavy the ball was, but I should 

 guess about 15 tons; anyhow, I know that it took seventeen strong 

 farm-horses to draw the tree up an inclined plane of boards over the 

 low terra-cotta wall which encloses the pleasure-grounds and down 

 to its new site in the park, about 300 yards away. 



The result on the whole was a success. It is true that the top of 

 the tree for a distance of 10 or 12 ft. died, but the rest of it throve, 

 and it now stands a fine straight stem girthing 5 ft. 8 in., with a 

 well-balanced though pollarded head, attaining 36 ft. in height. 

 An English oak of that age having been able to withstand the 

 shock of removal is only explicable by the fact that some brick 

 footings of an old barn or other building, the line of which showed in 

 dry weather and spoilt the look of the lawn, had been removed about 

 four years before, and had incidentally led to the neighbouring tree 

 being heavily root-pruned. I have also several pedunculates, which 

 are seedlings from one at Tortworth known as the " glossy oak," 

 now about sixty years old. This variety is described in " Trees of 

 Great Britain," vol. ii. p. 287, as follows : "It has remarkably glossy 

 coriaceous leaves, somewhat variable in shape but generally obovate- 

 lanceolate, with quite entire or only slightly lobed margin." 



I have also fourteen named varieties of the pedunculate oak, and 

 of these one of the most attractive and picturesque is pendula, 

 as can be seen by looking at fig. 23 ; it is growing very freely, and, 

 situated as it is on a bank of the lake, it ought in a few more years 

 to form a very striking object. I suppose it is now thirty years old, and 

 has a girth of 3 ft. and a height of 33 ft. I have also quite recently 

 bought from an English nursery another weeping form called pendula 

 Dauvesii ; it is distinct from the former, and is 9 ft. 6 in. high, but too 

 young for me to say much as yet about its merits. 



Almost in startling contrast to the two last named are my specimens 

 of the variety fastigiata (fig. 24), with their stiff poplar-like habit. We 

 have about half a dozen of this variety dotted about the grounds, and 

 they are undoubtedly valuable in breaking the line of any plantation, 

 with the special advantage that they take up very little room. I sup- 

 pose it must be regarded as a freak when the branches of an oak, a 

 lime, a thorn, an alder, a birch, a Gleditschia, a tulip-tree, or an elm 

 (and I have rigidly fastigiate forms of all these at Aldenham) grow 

 VOL. xlv. p 



