a yard from the ground. It has a double stem, and in 1904 had increased to 62 feet high by 10 feet 4 inches in girth. Other remarkable trees near London[1] are:—
One at Chiswick House, which measured in 1889, 57 feet by 6½ feet, and in 1903, 62 feet by 6 feet 11 inches; and another at Cutbush's Nursery, Highgate, which was in 1903 56 feet high by 4½ feet in girth.
Ginkgo trees may be seen in the following places in London:—Victoria Park, Telegraph Hill, Lincoln's Inn Fields, Waterlow Park, Southwark Park.
At Grove Park, Herts, a tree measured in 1904 68 feet high by 8 feet 5 inches in girth.
At Bank House, Wisbech, the residence of Alexander Peckover, Esq., there is a tree which was 65 feet high and 7 feet in girth in 1904.
There is a very fine tree[2] at Frogmore, Windsor, which in 1904 measured 74 feet by 9 feet 3 inches, but divides into four stems (Plate 22).
At Barton, Suffolk, a tree planted in 1825 measured in 1904 50 feet by 2 feet 5 inches.
At Sherborne, Dorset, a tree 70 feet by 7 feet 7 inches in 1884.
At Melbury, Dorchester, the tallest tree in England is said to occur, being stated to be over 80 feet in height.[3] The tree at Panshanger[3] is reported to be 70 feet high by 10 feet at 1 foot above the ground. At Longleat[3] there is a tree 71 feet by 9½ feet girth at 1 foot above the soil.
At Cobham Park, Kent, a tree 68 feet by 9 feet 4 inches.
At Badminton, Gloucestershire, a pair of symmetrical trees each about 50 feet by 5 feet.
At Blaize Castle, near Bristol, there is a good tree, of which Lord Ducie has kindly sent a photograph and a letter from Miss Harford, dated December 1903, which states:—"The Salisburia is, I am glad to say, in perfect condition, and a very fine graceful tree. Its height, measured last summer, was 72 feet. I have always heard that the one at Kew (which is not nearly so well grown) and the one in the Bishop's garden at Wells came over from Japan in the same ship as our tree."[4]
In Wales the finest tree that we know of is at Margam Park, Glamorganshire, the residence of Miss Talbot, which in 1904 was about 70 feet high and 6 feet in girth.
We have not heard of any fine specimens in Scotland or Ireland.
A curious form of the Ginkgo tree is reported[5] to occur at Cookham Grove, Berkshire. This tree grows within 10 feet of the river wall, which surrounds the lawn, and when there is high water the roots are under water for several days at a time. The bole is only 2 feet in height, but measures 4½ feet in girth; at that point it breaks into many branches, some going upright to a distance of over 30 feet, while others grow almost horizontally, the spread of the branches being 45 feet.
- ↑ The well-known trees in the Chelsea Botanic Garden and in High Street, Brentford, are now mere wrecks.
- ↑ Figured in Garden, 1904, lxvi. 344.
- ↑ 3.0 3.1 3.2 Flora and Sylva, ii. (1904), p. 357.
- ↑ Elwes has since seen and measured this tree, which he made to be 68 feet by 9 feet 3 inches, with a bole about 12 feet high.
- ↑ Gard. Chron. 1886, xxv. 53.
