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XLIII. Stones not hurtful to Land.

MR. URBAN,

IT has been long known to experienced farmers, that taking away small stones and flints is detrimental to ploughed lands in general; but more particularly so to thin light lands, and to all lands of a binding nature.

It was, however, never imagined, that the damage could be so great as it is now found to be, since unusual quantities of flints and other stones have been repeatedly gathered for the use of the turnpike roads.

In the parish of Stevenage, in Hertfordshire, there is a field known by the name of Chalkdell-field, containing about 200 acres; the land in this field was formerly equal, if not superior, to most lands in that county; but lying convenient for the surveyors of the roads, they have picked it so often, and stripped it of the flints and small stones to such a degree, that it is now inferior to lands that were formerly reckoned not much above half its value, acre for acre. Nor is it Chalkdell-field alone that has materially suffered in that county by the above-mentioned practice; several thousand acres bordering on the turnpike roads from Wellwyn to Baldock have been so much impoverished, that the loss to the inheritance for ever must be computed at a great many thousand pounds.

What puts it beyond a doubt that the prodigious impoverishment of the land is owing to no other cause but picking and carrying away the stones, is, that those lands have generally been most impoverished which have been most frequently picked; nay I know a field, part of which was picked, and the other part ploughed up before they had time to pick it, where the part that was picked lost seven or eight parts in ten of two succeeding crops; and though the whole field was manured and managed in all respects alike, yet the impoverishment was visible where the stones had been picked off, and extended not an inch farther; an incontestible proof of the benefit of the stones.

1773, March.

An Hertfordshire Farmer.

I

XLIV. On the Serpent destroyed by Regulus,

MR. URBAN,

THE story of the great serpent, that did so much mischief to the Roman army, commanded by Regulus, in Africa, and which was at last encountered, besieged, and killed by him, is so well known, that, I presume, I need not refer you to any authors concerning it. Much difficulty, however, attends this story. Dr. Shaw, indeed, thinks it was a crocodile; these are his words: "There is no small probability, likewise, (as, in the earlier ages, there was no great propriety in the Latin names of animals, Trav. p. 245) that the dragon or serpent, such an one as Regulus is said to have defeated with so much difficulty, upon the banks of the Bagradas, was no other than the crocodile; for this animal alone (from the enormous size to which it sometimes arrives, from the almost impenetrable quality of its skin, which would hardly submit to the force of warlike engines) will best answer, as none of the serpent kind, properly so called, will do, to that description." This, though, I doubt will not do the business; for, in the first place, the serpent in question, according to Orosiust, and, I suppose, other authors whom he followed, was 120 feet long, treble or four times the size of any crocodile that was ever seen or heard of: secondly, the river Bagradas was near Carthage, a part of Africa where crocodiles are not known, and I believe never were; for I take it to be certain, that no river that disembogues into the Mediterranean, ever afforded this animal, except the Nile. Mr. Barrington, I observe, who, I make no question, was well apprised of the above opinion and conjecture of Dr. Shaw, calls the affair of this enormous adder, and Regulus's proceedings in relation to it, an absurd and incredible fact: and, to say truth, it is a hard matter to reconcile it with any tolerable degree of probability; so that, at last, we must be forced to acquiesce in his declaration.

Yours,

1773, Sept.

T.Row.

* Dr. Shaw, Travels, in Supplement, p. 87.

+ Orosius, IV. 8.

Mr. Barrington, Engl. Version of Ælfred's Saxon Version of Orosius, p.

143.

XLV. On the Growth of Cedars in England.

MR. URBAN,

Hardwicke House, Feb. 16, 1779.

AMONG the slighter devastations occasioned by the last new-year's hurricane, I cannot, as an admirer of natural productions, but lament with particular regret the destruction of perhaps the finest cedar in England. This superb tree, una, nemus, stood close on the north side of Hendon Place*, the elegant residence of Mr. Aislabie, eight miles from London. From the gardener's information, and my own admeasurements, some of its dimensions had been these: the height 70 feet; the diameter of the horizontal extent of the branches, upon an average, 100; the circumference of the trunk, 7 feet above the ground, 16; 12 feet above the ground, 20. At this latter height it began to branch; and its limbs, about 10 in number, were from 6 to 12 feet in circumference. Its roots had not spread wide nor deep; and the soil that had suited it so well, is a strong clay, upon rather an elevated situation. Tradition ascribes the planting of this tree to Queen Elizabeth herself; yet the vigour of its trunk, and the full verdure of its branches (besides a reason which I shall presently adduce), make me doubt, whether we are to allow it so great an age. However that be, its appearance shews that it had not arrived at maturity, and might have stood, perhaps have thriven, for centuries to come. gardener made 501. of the cones the year before last, but last year only 121.

The

The great size, and apparent increasing vigour of this tree, excited my curiosity to inquire into the age and size of some of its brethren; and to collect what particulars I could towards the English history of this noblest of our exotics.

The Rev. Mr. Lightfoot, of Uxbridge, upon whose accu

* Hendon Place was in Norden's time the seat of "Sir Edward Herbert, Knt, where is often resident Sir John Fortescue, Kut. one of her Majesty's privy council, when he taketh the air in the country" Sir Edward died 1594, and his eldest son William was created Lord Powis, 5 C. I. and dying 1655, was buried in Hendon church. On the death of their lineal descendant the late Marquis of Powis, 1747-8, this valuable estate was sold by auction by the late Mr. Langford, 1756, in three several sales, viz. the manor, the demesne lands, and the tythes. This house was purchased by Robert Snow, Esq. banker, of London, who is the present proprietor. He pulled down the old house (where was a spacious gallery), and erected the present mansion, which was lately in the occupation of the Earl of Northampton, and now of Mr. Aislabic.

racy, as well as friendship, I can depend, has sent me the following dimensions of one at Hillingdon, in his neighbourhood. The perpendicular height is 53 feet; the diameter of the horizontal extent of the branches from east to west, 96; from north to south, 89; the circumference of the trunk close to the ground, 15; 3 feet above the ground, 13; 7 feet above the ground, 121; 12 feet above the ground, 14 feet 8 inches; 13, just under the branches, 15 feet 8 inches. It has two principal branches, one of which is bifid 1 foot above its origin: before it divides, it measures in circumference 12 feet, after its division, one of its forks measures 84, the other 7 feet 10 inches. The other primary branch at its origin measures 10 feet; and, soon dividing, throws out two secondary ones, each 5. The proprietor of this tree says he can with much certainty determine its age to be 116 years.

The largest of those at Chelsea, measured last month, is in height 85 feet; the horizontal extent of its branches is about 80; the circumference of its trunk close to the ground 18; at 2 feet above the ground, 15; at 10 feet, 16; at about 1 yard higher it begins to branch. These trees Mr. Miller says, were, as he was credibly informed, planted in 1683, about 3 feet high. The soil is a lean hungry sand. mixed with gravel, with about two feet surface.

In the garden of the old palace at Enfield, is a cedar of Libanus, of the following dimensions, taken by Mr. Thomas Liley, an ingenious schoolmaster there, at the desire of my friend Mr. Gough, who was so obliging as to communicate them to me:

Feet. Inches.

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Large arm that branches out near the top, 3 feet 9 inches; several boughs, in girt 3 feet 5 inches; and the boughs extend from the body from 28 to 45 feet. The contents of the body, exclusive of the boughs, is about 103 cubical feet. This tree is known to have been planted by Dr. Uvedale, who kept a flourishing school at this house at the time of the great plague 1665, and was a great florist. Eight feet of the top were broken off by the high wind of 1703. Tradition says this tree was brought hither immediately from Mount Líbanus in a portmantea. The first lime-trees planted LI

VOL. II.

in England found their way over in the same convey. ance*.

Several other cedars of considerable size are scattered about in different parts of the kingdom.

I find not, with exactness, when, or by whom, the cedar was first introduced into England. Turner, one of our earliest herbarists, where he treats "of the pyne tree, and other of that kynde," says nothing of it. Gerard, published by Johnson in 1636, mentions it not as growing here; and Parkinson, in his Theatrum Botanicum, 1640, speaking of the Cedrus magna conifera Libani, says, "The branches, some say, all grow upright, but others straight out." Evelyn, whose discourse on forest trees was delivered in the Royal Society in 1662, observing that cedars throve in cold chimates, adds, "Why then should they not thrive in Old England! I know not, save for want of industry and trial.”

Hitherto, I think, it is pretty plain the cedar was unknown among us: and it appears probable, that we are indebted to the last mentioned gentleman for its introduction into England; for he informs us in the same paragraph from which I made the above quotation, that he had received cones and seeds from the few trees remaining on the mountains of Libanus.

Something better than 20 years afterwards, we find, among Mr. Ray's Philosophical Letters, the following curious one addressed to him from Sir Hans Sloane:

"London, March 7, 1684-5.

"I was the other day at Chelsea, and find that the artifi ces used by Mr. Watts have been very effectual for the preservation of his plants; insomuch that this severe enough winter has scarce killed any of his fine plants. One thing I much wonder, to see the Cedrus montis Libani, the inhabitant of a very different climate, should thrive so well, as, without pot or greenhouse, to be able to propagate itself by layers this spring. Seeds sown last autumn have as yet thriven well, and are like to hold out: the main artifice I used to them has been, to keep them from the winds, which seem to give a great additional force to cold to destroy the tender plants.'

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This is the first notice that has occurred to me of the

* Harris's Kent, p. 92.

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