CRGANINQ TREE, 
VI 
Groaning Tree. 
The following circumstance which happened at Baddesley, a small 
village in Hampshire, is given in the words of Mr. Gilpin. 
** A cottager, who lived near the centre of the village, heard fre- 
quently a strange noise behind his house, like that of a person iti 
extreme agony. Boon after, it caught the attention of his wife, who 
w aa then conhned to her bed. She was a timorons woman^ and* being 
greatly alarmedj her husband endeavoured to persuade her that the 
noise she heard was only the bellowing of the stags in the forest. By 
degrees, howeverj the neighbours on all sides heard It j and the dif- 
cumstance began to be riiUcb talked of. It was by this timte plainly dis- 
covered that the groaning noise proceeded from an elm which grew at 
the bottom of the garden. It was a young vigorous tree, and to ail 
appearance perfectly sound. In a few weeks the fame of the groan- 
ing tree was spread far and wide ; and people from all parts flocked 
to hear it. Among others, it attracted the curiosity of the late Prince 
and Princess of Wales, who resided at that time, for the advan- 
tage of a sea-bath, at Pilewell, within a quarter of a mile of thegroan- 
ing-tree. 
“Though the country people assigned many snperstltioTis causes 
for this Strange phenomenon, the naturalist was unable to assign a 
physical one that was in any degree satisfactory. Some thought it 
was owing to the twisting and friction of the roots ; others thought 
that it proceeded from water which had collected in the body of the 
tree, or perhaps from pent air ; but no cause that was alleged, ap- 
peared equal to the effect. In the mean time the tree did not 
always groan, sometimes disappointing its visitants ; yet no cause 
Could be assigned for its temporary cessations, either from seasons 
or weather. If any difference was observed, it was thought to groan 
least when the weather was wet, and most when it was clear and 
frosty; but the sound at ail times seemed to come from the roots. 
“Thus the groaning-tree continued an object of astonishment, 
during the space of eighteen or twenty months, to all the country 
round ; and, for the information of distant parts, a pamphlet was 
drawn up, containing a particular account of all the circumstances 
relating to it. At fertgth the owner of it, a gentleman of the name 
of Forbes, making too rRsli an ejiperiment to discover the cause, bored 
a hole in its trunk. After this it never groaned. It was then rooted 
up, with a further view to make a discovery ; but nothing appeared 
which led to any elucidation of the cause. It was necessarily 
believed, however, that there Was no trick in the affair ; but that some 
natural cause really existed, thoagh it was never understood.”— iJe- 
marks on Forest Scenery ^ vol. i. p. 163, 164. 
Age of Trees. 
Trees, after a certain age, waste. An oak at one hundred years 
old ceases to grew. The usual rule forjudging of the age of wood, 
is by the number of circles that appeal in the snbstance of a trunk op 
Stock cut horizontally, each circle being su|>posed tbc growth of ife 
5 F 
