18 
That these notes and measurements may he of use to some 
member of the Norfolk and Norwich Naturalists’ Society, when 
he visits these old monuments a hundred years hence, I most 
earnestly desire. At any rate I will not imitate that selfish man 
who refused to do anything for posterity, on the ground that 
posterity had never done anything for him ! 
Since writing the above, Mr. Southwell has kindly forwarded to 
me a most interesting extract from the journal of R Marsham, 
F.E.S., formerly of Stratton Strawless, in which he gives the 
measurement of the two old oaks at Winfarthing in the autumn of 
1744. The circumference of the oak, which is the subject of my 
paper, was then 38 feet 7 inches, so that its present girth of 40 
feet shows it to have increased 17 inches in the 130 years, while 
the old tree which I have mentioned as standing in an adjoining 
meadow, has remained in statu quo, measuring then as now 30 feet. 
To Mr. Southwell I am also indebted for the following excellent 
suggestion ; — he proposes that whenever an old tree is photo- 
graphed, a piece of paper of known measurement, say twelve inches 
square, should be attached to its trunk, so that by simple com- 
parison, the dimensions of the tree may be easily ascertained. 
T. E. A. 
