84 
CORRESPONDENCE. 
purpose to relate what occurred to me on landing, or to describe the place. The 
voyage, which had occupied three weeks, was concluded. Next day I was seated 
upon the deck of the Petersburg!! passage-boat, and as she churned up the foam 
at the steady pace of ten knots an hour, I took a farewell of the English shipping, 
rapidly diminishing in the mole. It appeared as if the “ last link were broken” 
that had connected me with England; but I was too much amused with the 
motley group of passengers before me, in all about 150, composed of members 
from most of the European nations, to indulge the feeling sentimental. The discord 
of tongues sounded strange to an ear accustomed to English alone. In two hours 
from the time of embarkation I found myself in the capital of Russia. 
Boughton , Norfolk , 
Sept. 5, 1838. 
CORRESPONDENCE. 
Notice of a venerable Elm-tree. 
To the Editor of The Naturalist. 
Dear Sir, — I was induced, one evening last week, to pay a visit to a group 
of venerable Elms, on the estate of Sir H. Bedingfeld, Bart., at Caldecote, near 
Qxboro’ Hall, in company with a friend whose ready pencil sketched their giant 
forms, whilst I clambered up their knotted stems, to measure their height, &c. &c. 
Half circling a high mound of earth, on the summit of which are the scarce 
visible ruins of a church long since gone to decay, these fathers of the field 
stand, and claim attention, as well from their lordly bearing as from the evidences 
of their great antiquity. The accompanying sketch is taken from a tree growing 
away from the group, and the following figures are the correct measurements of 
the same:— 
Circumference, three feet from the ground, 32^ feet. 
Largest diameter, 14 feet. 
Height of the principal stem, which has been broken off some years ago, 25^ ft. 
Circumference of the stem at the height of 25 feet, 5^ feet. 
The circumference of the roots above the ground, considerably above 40 feet. 
* The trunk, though quite hollow, is exteriorly sound and good, save two large 
apertures below. On the top three large branches shoot out, forming a triangular 
base of 12 or 14 square feet,. The top of the tree is covered with delicate green 
foliage, from numerous .healthy arms. Altogether this tree is a noble specimen 
