135 
much knowledge which ho was able to apply in various ways in 
after time. Ho succeeded to his father’s estate of Stratton- 
Strawless, some seven miles north of Norwich, in 1751, and from 
that period he seems to have travelled much in England, particu- 
larly whore any remarkable trees were to bo seen, and as these 
letters prove he became acquainted with many of the most eminent 
men of his day. Arboriculture was evidently his ruling passion, 
and ho delighted in making experiments in the growth of trees, the 
results of which ho communicated from timo to time to the 
‘ Philosophical Transactions ’ of tho Royal Society, of which he was 
elected a Fellow on the 9th of Juno, 1780, and admitted on the 
31st of May, 1781. He died on September 4th, 1797. 
Tho “Indications of Spring,” of which he left such a remarkable 
register afforded him annually recurring topics for remark, and tho 
valuo of his observations on rural subjects may be well estimated 
by White’s exclamation : — “ 0, that I had known you forty years 
ago ! ” 
A summary of tho ‘ Indications,’ with extracts from Mr. 
Marsham’s J ournal have been already printed in these ‘ Trans- 
actions ’ as above referred to. Begun in 1736 the register has 
been continued by his descendants with but slight intermission 
to the present time. 
An extract from the first letter of the present series originally 
appeared under the head of “ Observations on Vegetables ,” in 
White’s ‘ Calendar of Nature,’ published after his death by Aikin 
in 1795; it has since been appended to almost every edition of 
the ‘ Natural History of Selborne,’ although it formed no part of 
the original work. This quotation, however, is very inaccurate, as 
will be seen by comparing it with the literal copy of the original 
at p. 139. 
For the foot-notes appended to the correspondence, as now 
printed, the Society is indebted to Mr. J. E. Harting and Prof. 
Newton whose initials are respectively attached to them, and 
through the intervention of the former the Society is able to give 
an impression of tho wood-cut representing the Grindstone 
Oak.— T.S.] 
