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“and run 80, or very near, before they head, and i think some are 
“70 without a branch. Some are large & spreading. I measured 
“one + 1G F. round at 5 f. a very handsome one -f 13 f. 
“& an extreme handsome one 11 F. 5 I. & §. the handsomest 
“ is but 10 F. 6 I. an Arm of one standing single extended + 20 paces 
“from the trunk.” Again in 1767. Some Beeches laid felled in 
“the park, one was -f- 72 feet long as cut for timber, squared 
“above 2 feet at 24 f. length; & marked 222 feet:” a Grove of tall 
“ Chesnuts near the Beeches from 10 to 12 feet in circumf. 
“ at 5 feet. I do not love the Chestnuts no more than you : they 
have nothing of the obedience towards their masters which Beeches 
show : if you cut off an Arm of Beech, they seldom produce another ; 
but an Oak will give you 2 for one, & a Chestnut (in defyance) 
5 or more for one. I have this winter had several favourite Beeches 
digged round, two spades deep, as far as the roots extend, in hopes 
it may promote their growth. But i do not recommend this as 
oeconomy. If i can thus gain half an inch extra, i reckon myself 
paid the 3 half crowns expended on the Tree. 
My eyes water so much that i am forced to write by instalments, 
as Bankrupts pay their debts. — The Swallow was dead, & a wing 
torn off. — I certainly never remember so much thunder in a winter 
as in this, & perhaps not so much wind & rain. But as i do 
not measure the rain, i am not certain. — Tho’ the Season has been 
uncommonly mild, i do not find the Indications of Spring so early, 
e.g Snowdrop F. Jan. 16. Thrush sings Feb. 14. Rooks build 
Mar. 2 & i have not heard a Ring-dove coo yet ; but stockdoves 
on the 23 of Feb. 
In my favourite Book, the Hat. Hist, of Selborne, i am perplexed 
to find C. Taylor Yicar in 1784, 2 as i thought you had the Vicarage : 
and i suppose that your namesake, in 1691, the charitable Vicar 
was an Ancestor of your’s. 
I should have gone on with last Winter, & as a strong proof of 
its mildness have told you that i have a Hawthorn & a Hornbeam 
both headed last year, y e first still full leafed, & green, the last, 
some leaves green. — I forget tho authority, but i am confident i 
* ‘Antiquities of Selborne,’ Letter VI. — A.N. 
