323 
nineteen yards in circumference, and is mentioned by Sir Robert Atkyns, 
in his History of that county, as a famous tree in King John s time; and 
by Mr. Evelyn, in his Sylva, Book HI. Chap VII. p. 232, 4th edition, to 
have been so remarkable for its magnitude in the reign of King Stephen, as 
then to be called the Great Chesnut of Tortworth; from which it may 
reasonably be supposed to have been standing before the Conquest. 
The Triple-thorned Acacia (Gleditsia Spinosa), from Virginia , is 
now seen adorning every lawn and garden, displaying its elegant shaped 
leaves, cut out as with a pair of scissars, the leaflets being so regularly 
formed and disposed, taking their exact hours of sleep, and its flowers 
scenting a whole garden, afterwards terminating jn pods of an astonishing 
length. It was cultivated in England in l^OO. 
The Cork-tree (Tlex Suber) is seen very flourishing in the Physic 
Gardens at Chelsea, where is also the Cedar of Lebanon (Pinus Cedrus), 
which adapts itself admirably well to our climate. 
Nor does the Oriental Plane Tree (Platan e s Orientalis), or Occidental 
Plane (Platanus Occidentalis), succeed less with us. The former is 
the tree that Xerxes, when he first beheld it, in his march with l,/00,000 
men to invade Greece, was so enchanted with the sight, that he had it 
adorned with the riches of the East, halted at the spot to admire it, and, as 
historians report, neglected for several days the object of this extraordinary 
armament. Wherever the ancients built their sumptuous and magnificent 
colleges for the exercise of youth in gymnastics, as riding, wrestling, leaping, 
throwing the disk, &c. and where the philosophers used to meet to converse 
together, or instruct their disciples, they planted the walks with the Oriental 
Plane to repress and shade the Palestrae, as is described by Vetruvius, Lib.V. 
Chap. XI. These trees the Romans first brought from the Levant, and 
cultivated with so much industry, that Cicero is said to have left the bar, at 
certain times, to enjoy its shade, and to have increased its growth by feeding 
its roots with wine, which greatly improves this tree.. And so prized 
was it when first brought to France, that a penny was paid for a seat under 
its shade. No tree, says Evelyn, will better flourish and abide with us, 
only requiring frequent and plentiful water, which from their youth they 
excessively delight in, and gratefully acknowledge by their growth 
according; so that 1 am persuaded, that they might be cultivated to the 
incredible ornament of avenues and parks. The introduction of the Plane 
