I measured three from 70 to 80 feet with a girth of 63 to 83 feet, one being covered with dense tufts of twigs, a kind of witches' broom, caused by Exoascus Carpint.
In Scotland the hornbeam is less common than in the south, but grows to a large size in the warmer districts; though, as it is not mentioned either by Hunter, or in the Remarkable Trees of Scotland, it is evidently looked on as a rare tree in the north. Walker[1] speaks of one formerly growing at Bargally, which was 70 feet high, with a clear trunk of 20 feet.
The finest I have seen is a tree at Gordon Castle, perhaps the one mentioned by Loudon as being then 54 feet high; in 1904, it was 68 feet by 8 feet (Plate 152). At Murthly, in the lower park near the Tay, there is an old tree measuring, in 1906, 65 feet by 9 feet 8 inches; and Henry measured one at Scone of the same dimensions.
Mr. J. Renwick sends me particulars of a very remarkable hornbeam at Douglas Support, in Lanarkshire, which, in 1900, measured 78 feet by 8 feet 1 inch, with a bole of 17 feet long, and a spread of 60 feet, the branches having long pendulous twigs, which form a screen all round the tree and hang nearly to the ground.[2]
Another remarkable tree is at Eglinton Castle, Ayrshire, which separates into three stems near the ground, and measures at the narrowest point below the fork 14 feet in girth; its three stems girth 5 feet 9 inches, 5 feet 6 inches, and 4 feet 11 inches respectively. Mr. Renwick sends me particulars of other fine hornbeams as follows:—at Househill, Renfrewshire, 10 feet girth, 72 feet spread; at Tulliechewan Castle, Dumbartonshire, 60 feet by 8 feet 3 inches; at Gargunnock House, Stirlingshire, 8 feet 11 inches girth, 83 feet spread.
The hornbeam is rarely planted in Ireland. The largest tree, which Henry has seen, is growing beside the Killarney Lake, at Mahony's Point. It measured, in 1904, 15 feet 8 inches in girth, at 18 inches above the ground, giving off six great stems, the three largest of which were—8 feet 4 inches, 7 feet 7 inches, and 6 feet 3 inches in girth. This tree is about 70 feet in height, and the diameter of its spread is 80 feet. It is in perfect health and bears fruit regularly.
At Adare, Co. Limerick, in 1903, Henry saw a fine tree, which measured 53 feet by 8 feet 8 inches, the spread of branches being 65 feet. At Glenstal, in the same county, there is a tree of exactly the same dimensions, as regards height and girth. At Kilrudderry, Co. Wicklow, a tree, which had been blown down, measured 8 feet 9 inches in girth; and here there is a very fine hornbeam hedge, about 15 feet in height.
Timber
The wood of the hornbeam is the hardest, heaviest, and toughest of our native woods, but though extremely strong, is not flexible; and as it is seldom found large enough and clean enough to cut into planks, it is little used in England except for fuel, for which it is one of the best woods known, burning slowly with a
- ↑ Essays, p. 95, fide Loudon.
- ↑ I am informed by Mr. Douglas that the peculiarity of this tree consists in the long drooping twigs, which are 20 to 30 feet in length, and hang like small cords to the ground on all sides, concealing the trunk, whilst the upper branches do not droop at all. He thinks that this is due to its being a grafted tree. A photograph, which he is good enough to promise me, will be given in a later volume.
