6 
NATURAL HISTORY 
them. Long might it have stood^had not the amazing tempest 
in 1703 overturned it at once, to the infinite regret of the 
inhabitants, and the vicar, who bestowed several pounds in 
setting it in its place again: but all his care could not 
avail; the tree sprouted for a time, then withered and died. 
This oak I mention to show to what a bulk planted oaks 
also may arrive : and planted this tree must certainly have 
been, as will appear from what will be said further con- 
cerning this area when we enter on the antiquities of Sel- 
borne/ 
On the Blackmoor estate there is a small wood called 
Losel^s, of a few acres, that was lately furnished with a set 
of oaks of a peculiar growth and great value ; they were 
tall and taper like firs, but, standing near together, had very 
small heads, only a little brush, without any large limbs. ^ 
About twenty years ago the bridge at the Toy, near Hampton 
Court, being much decayed, some trees were wanted for the 
repairs that were fifty feet long without bough, and would 
measure twelve inches diameter at the little end. Twenty 
such trees did a purveyor find in this little wood, with this 
advantage, that many of them answered the description at 
sixty feet. These trees were sold for twenty pounds a 
piece. 
In the centre of this grove there stood an oak, which, 
though shapely and tall on the whole, bulged out into a 
large excrescence about the middle of the stem. On this a 
pair of ravens had fixed their residence for such a series of 
^ The Plestor, as it subsequently appears, measured about forty-four 
yards by thirty-six, and the oak, whose branches nearly overshadowed 
this large space, is conjectured by Gilbert White to have been, at the 
time when it was blown down, four hundred and thirty-two years old. 
—Ed. 
2 We have here a hint at the different effects of shelter and exposure 
on the growth of trees. Those in the interior of woods generally have 
their stems upright, their bark glossy, their tops small and thinly pro- 
T^ided with branches, and their roots, in the same way, spare and scanty, 
but in due proportion to the tops. Those, on the other hand, in exposed 
situations, have their stems stout and short, their bark thick and coarse, 
their tops spreading, and their roots in the same way throwing then - 
selves out in every dii-ection. — Ed. 
