PAXTON'S FLOWER GARDEN. 



45 



in particular forming a natural arch, underneath which you can walk. And it was some time before I could 

 was ever possible for the tree to have grown there, until, on looking further, I perceived that the sassafras 

 originally sprung from seed lodged in the bark of some swamp gum that had fallen across the brook ; and, 

 it gradually sent out roots along the trunk until they met terra firma. The trunk 

 having, in the course of ages, decayed, has left the sassafras tree in the odd position 

 in which we now see it. I say so much before I give you the measurement. I am 

 sure the whole scene would amply repay you for the trouble of a ride ; in addition 

 to the giants below, there are, I feel confident, within a mile, at least a hundred trees 

 of 40 feet in circumference. One, about forty yards from the biggest, was 60 feet at 

 four feet from the ground, and, at a hundred and thirty, must have been fully 40 feet in 

 circumference ; it was without buttresses, but went up one solid massive column, 

 without the least symptom of decay. A silver wattle was 1 20 feet high, and 6 feet round. 

 In fact, we named it the Vale of Giants, for puny indeed did men appear alongside 

 these vegetable wonders. The largest we measured was, at three feet from the ground 

 102 feet in circumference, and at the ground 130 feet. We had no means of estimating 

 its height, so dense was the neighbouring forest, above which, however, it towered in 

 majestic grandeur. This noble swamp gum is still growing, and shows no signs of decay; 

 it should be held sacred as the largest growing tree. The largest oak on record is the 



tell how it 

 must have 

 as it grew, 



