250 THE TREES IN KEW GAKDENS.
near the Palace gates which have probably attained 300 years. Of these
the top of that nearest the oates was blown oti' this winter and the stump
removed ; but the butt was too far tlecayed for its rings to be counted.
All the old Elms in the grounds and their outskirts are in rows, and were
either planted along former walks, or came up in hedgerows, and were
spared when the domain was enclosed and the hedges removed. Of Elms
under 200 years old there were innumeral)le examples throughout the
grounds ; these were for the most part suckers from the roots of older
Elms, which, coming up amongst the other and better trees, have done
irreparable damage to them ; the English Elm being of all plants the
most impoverishing in light soils. Of the old Hawthorns, the last fine
one perished during the summer's drought; they abounded at one time
on the gravelly parts, and appeared to be of the same age as the old
Eichmond Park Hawthorns. Beech, Oak, and Maple are the only other
trees that have sprung up spontaneously in the grounds, and all from
originally planted trees. The oldest Beeches were planted in George II. 's
reign, and are about 150 years old; but of these there are very few
indeed. The largest of them is a magnificent tree near the Brentford
gate, with a trunk 10|^ feet in girth at five feet above the ground; its
branches, which sweep and root in the ground, form a circle 116 paces in
circumference. It is showing signs of decay. The majority of the
Beeches, which formed eight-tenths of the arboreous vegetation of Kew,
are part of an extensive and dense plantation, made about 1750, but
which, having been wholly neglected during the succeeding hundred years,
have impoverished one another to such an extent that the majority are
already diseased and fungused. It is upon this Beech forest that the
winter gales and last summer's drought have told most heavily ; the
majority, having no root-hold, could not resist the blasts, and the losa of
one is immediately followed by that of its neighbours, both from the
admission of the wind and from the sun's rays drying and heating the
surface of the previously-shaded soil over their roots. Of other trees
there are several good Limes, Evergreen Oaks, Spanish and Horse-
Chestnuts, all from 150 to 200 years old ; these trees have thriven well,
and last long in the soil of Kew. The Ashes, Poplars, Acacias, and
Willows average only from 100 to 150 years, and the Birches 60 to 80
years. The only good Coniferous trees of any age at Kew are Cedars of
Lebanon and Larches: many of the former were planted about 1750,
but of these not a dozen remain, the largest having attained a girth
of eleven feet at five above the ground. The Spruces, Scotch Firs,
Pinasters, and Weymouth Pines, have all been ruined by being
crowded amongst forest trees. The Hemlock-Spruces, with which
the path by the Richmond Road was ornamentecl twenty years ago,
are every one dead ; the last, wdiich stood near the Pagoda, having
succumbed to the drought of the past summer. Of Planes there
never were many ; a few fine orientals, planted in 1740-50, remain in
the King of Hanover's grounrk, one near the old Palace, and one near the
Temple of the Sun. The above comprises all the trees of which there
were any quantity in the grounds previous to their being made over to
the public in 1845 ; since which time four-fifths have either died or have
been removed to make way for buildings, avenues, paths, etc. Between
1840 and 1865 many efforts were made by my predecessor to keep up
the sylvan scenery of the pleasure grouuds, by planting Conifers amongst
�� �
