WHOLE No. 1*204. 
NEW YORK, AND ROCHESTER, N. Y„ FEB. 22, 1873. 
j PRICE S»I3d'CENT8.^ 
I «‘2.r,0 PER;YEA K. 
^rboriniltuml. 
[Entered according to Act o f voar 1873, by V. 1). T. Moomt, in the Office of the Librarian of Congress, at W.i,l,i nK ton.J 
THE OLDEST OAK IN ENGLAND. 
England has many grand old oaks—grand 
as to size and in historical association ; hut 
we illustrate one known as the noble “Oak 
of Cowthorpe,” winch, while it is rich in the 
associations which antiquity gives, has higher 
claims than any other English treel’or notice, 
because of its size and grandeu r. A recent 
English writer saj 9 of it : -It tg not Only a 
remnant of the forests of ancient Brittain, 
but the monarch amongst the kings of trees. 
Not only has it outlived all Its contempora¬ 
ries, but it has outgrown them ; and in it we 
possibly see the oldest living orgctniitm, as well 
as the largest oak. in England. 
For upwards of 1,000 years it has kept alive 
the vital spark ; it lias ate and drank of tin- 
plant pabulum in the soil through the same 
roots, atul has returned the sap to the roots, 
through the same vessels. 1 3 there any other 
created structure that has performed the 
functions of this vitality for that time ? Five 
times has York Minster—man’s work—fallen 
in half the time. Annually it has put forth 
its buds, its leaves, it* blossoms, and its 
branches ; and, despite all that storm, tem¬ 
pest and sacrilegious hands have done at its 
main lateral branches—which once reached 
100 yards from its trunk, and covered half 
an acre of ground—it still is not, what Shak- 
Speare terms 
An oak with one green leaf, 
but at this moment is crowned with a coronet 
of verdant foliage. Allen, the Yorkshire 
historian, describes the tree as follows“ The 
circumference is upwards Of DO feet, and its 
principal limb extends 50 foot from the bole. 
Tradition speaks of it, being in decay for many 
generations. The intermixture of foliage 
among the dead branches shows how sternly 
this giant struggles for life, and how reluc¬ 
tantly it surrenders to all-conquering Time.” 
“Compared with this," says Dr. Hunter in 
“Evelyn’s Silva,” “all other trees are chil¬ 
dren of the Forest. ” 
Wil li reference to the size, it measured at 
the base about 00 feet, and the hollow in its 1 
center is the frustum of a cone 14 feet, in 
diameter. Forty years ago it was used as a j 
calf-house, but this was in the Georgian peri¬ 
od, when churches were whi washed ; and 
now if, is preserved—arid properly so—as the 
owner 011 the whole of his immense estates 
lias no other object of equal interest. 
“ In the days we went o-gypsying, a long 
time ago,” we liave picnicked under its 
branches, and walked through a quadrille in 
its trunk. A year or two ago sixty Sunday 
scholars of the neighboring market-town, 
Wetherby, held their holiday gala under its 
shade, and sang “God save the Queen,” in 
the hollow of its ribs. 
In assigning an age of more than 1,000 years 
to tl 1 is tree we are not going beyond the au¬ 
thority of reason and of precedent. Five 
hundred years is the period that can be as¬ 
signed for such a growth of oak, which is 
solid, durable, and of slow formation. For 
500 years it would maintain its vigor un¬ 
diminished, while 500 years would be re¬ 
quired to destroy it, if we estimate by its 
slow decay during the last 200 year*. During 
the whole of this time, of which we have 
record, it has been decaying, and for how 
long before, we know not. This estimate of 
the age of the oak is not unprecedented. Pliny 
names trees believed to be 1,300 years old ; 
and amongst the oaks of Welbeck Park men¬ 
tion is made of one which, in 1790, was sup¬ 
posed t.o be 1,000 years old ; it being stated 
that i" the same park there "were several 
other tine oaks in full vigor which are above 
500 years old ; the time of their planting be¬ 
ing ascertained from old writings in the 
Duke.,of Port land’s possession.” 
GW^Jurpe, where the fine old oak grows, 
ia a small, retired village two miles east of 
the great north road between Wetherby and 
Borobridge, mid only three miles distant from 
the former place. It is situated on the banks 
of the river Nidd a few miles before it joins 
the Ouse. The highway only just touches 
the village, which runs oil' at right angles 
ami forms a cul tie sac, at the very end of 
which is the Church, the Old Hull, and the 
Great Oak, all of which are on the same fer¬ 
tile meadow, half encircled by the river. 
PEACH TREES KILLED BY COLD. 
It is believed that very many of the peach 
orchards in this region are ruined by the ex¬ 
treme cold of Doc. 39th, when the thermom¬ 
eter was 86“ to 28“ below zero. On cutting 
through the bark of the trunks and limbs of 
the trees the color is quite brown or reddish 
—and seeing this many persons suppose they 
are surely killed, and may oa well be cut 
down at once, and used for stove-wood. 
My advice to all such persons is to let thorn 
alone till the time for the buds to start in the 
Spring, ft)id then if the bark itself is not dead 
the trees will be very opt to recover, especial¬ 
ly if they are then cut back severely, remov¬ 
ing the greater part of the tops, say to the 
second or third fork, according Lo_ the age 
and size of the trees. But if the trees are 
quite old and have been weakened by over¬ 
bearing, as most trees have in these parts, it 
