HISTORICAL GARDENS 
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put forth rival claims to the Chelsea ones are those of 
Bretby and Enfield. The Bretby one is undoubtedly 
very old, but there is no early reference to it in histories 
which mention the Enfield trees, and the famous one at 
Hendon, traditionally planted by Queen Elizabeth and 
blown down in 1779, and a few others ; and there is no 
contemporary evidence of the date of its planting to 
warrant the assumption that it was before 1683. The 
Enfield tree in the garden of Robert Uvedale was said, in 
1823, by Henry Phillips, to be about 156 years old, there¬ 
fore older than the Chelsea ones by some six years; but 
there is no evidence to corroborate this. When Gibson 
describes the Garden in 1691, he makes no mention of it, 
and it seems unlikely he would have omitted such an 
important tree. There exists much correspondence with 
Uvedale and botanists of his time, but in none of the 
letters or early notices is the cedar mentioned before 
Ray’s note of the Chelsea trees, or even referred to as 
the first planted in England, so it seems the Chelsea 
trees’ claim to be the first is fairly established. 
The oriental plane, which fell just as it was going to be 
taken down in 1904, was one of the finest in London, 
planted by Philip Miller, and is quoted by Loudon, in 
1837, as then £15 feet high. Some of the other famous 
trees have also died, such as the cork trees and paper 
mulberries ; but some have been more fortunate, and are 
among the oldest of their kind in England. The Koel- 
reuteria paniculata is probably the finest in this country, 
and the other old trees which were noted as being par¬ 
ticularly fine specimens in 1813 or 1820, and which 
are still alive, are Diospyros Virginiana , the Persimmon 
or Virginian date plum, the Quercus ilex, black walnut, 
mulberry, and Styrax officinale. Rhus juglandifolia , which 
