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The Trees of Great Britain and Ireland

bole of about 4o feet (Plate 130). When mentioned by Loudon it was considered the tallest in England, being then 108 feet high by 9 feet in girth, At Combe Bank, near Sevenoaks, there is a magnificent cedar, which Henry in 1904 measured about 105 feet high with a girth of 20 feet. There are no really large cedars at Syon, Kew, or Woburn. There is a magnificent tree at Blenheim, 28 feet in girth, but of no great height, and having the spreading habit which we usually see in this tree in England (Plate 132).

Probably the tallest cedar in England is one in the pleasure grounds of Petworth Park, which I measured carefully in 1905, and could not make it less than about 125 feet high by 144 feet in girth. It is remarkable for having a trunk clear of branches for no less than 56 feet, where a small limb comes off, but, with this ex- ception, it is clean up to about 80 feet. Probably this habit is due to its growing in a sheltered position, more or less shut in by other trees, on a deep bed of sandy loam. Owing to its position this tree is very difficult to photograph (Plate 131).

The next finest tree of this type which I have seen is one in the Belvedere Plantation at Windsor. This, according to Menzies, who says that the ground is marked in a map of 1750 as open, cannot be more than 150 years old; and it is at least 115 feet high with a girth of 16 feet. It is without any large branch until it reaches a height of 60 feet or more, and carries nearly the same girth to this elevation; so that a plank 60 feet long and 3 or 4 feet wide at the top end could probably be cut from it. Menzies figures this tree’ and gives the dimensions in 1864 as only 75 feet by 12 feet 10 inches, which was probably less than its actual size at that time. There are several other fine trees in the same drive, but none equal to this; and a young one close by, which was planted by Mr. Simmonds, Deputy Surveyor of Windsor Forest, about thirty-five years ago, is now about 4o feet high, and has the same straight-growing upright habit which cedars seem to develop best on deep sandy soil.

In Hertfordshire there are many fine cedars, of which the most notable are growing on a lawn at Bayfordbury.? Mr. Clinton Baker tells me that they were raised from seeds of the Enfield Cedar, and planted in 1765. They have been measured at various intervals by his grandfather, father, and himself, as follows :—

No. 1 at 3 ft. No, 1 at 5 ft. No. 3 at 3 ft.2 No. 3at5 ft. No. 7 at1 ft.

Ft. In. Ft. In, Ft. In. Ft. In, Ft. In. 1822. : ( TO. oo IO 5 IO 10 Io 8 14 5 1837. ; > Ep as ue 13 0 17 6 1865. : . 15 0 16 0 I5 II 16 5 22 1 1880. ‘ . 16 0 17 3 7 23 18 oO

1895 . : » 16 7 we 18 9 ‘i 26 oO 1900. , . 16 9 18 oO I9 5 I9 5 27 1 1904 . ; . 17° 6 ig 2 19 5 I9 9 a7 3

At Langleybury, Herts, a large cedar® was growing in the grounds of


1 History of Windsor Great Park and Windsor Forest, Plate 14.

® Figured in Gard. Chron. xxvi. 521, f. 102, and 553, f. 109 (1886).

3 Gard. Chron. xiv. 392 (1880).