To the north-west, north and east of the village, is a range of fair enclosures, consisting of what is called a white malm, a sort of rotten or rubble stone, which, when turned up to the frost and rain, moulders to pieces, and becomes manure to itself.* Still on to the north-east, and a step lower, is a kind of white land, neither chalk nor clay, neither fit for pasture nor for the plough, yet kindly for hops, which root deep into the freestone, and have their poles and wood for charcoal growing just at hand. This white soil produces the brightest hops. As the parish still inclines down towards Wolmer forest, at the juncture of the clays and sand the soil becomes a wet, sandy loam, remarkable for timber, and infamous for roads. The oaks of Temple and Blackmoor stand high in the estima tion of purveyors, and have furnished much naval timber; while the trees on the freestone grow large, but are what workmen call shakey, and so brittle as often to fall to pieces in sawing. Beyond the sandy loam the soil becomes an hungry lean sand, till it mingles with the forest; and will produce little without the assistance of lime and turnips. II. IN the court of Norton farm-house, a manor farm to the north-west of the village, on the white malms, stood within these twenty years a broadleaved elm, or wych hazel, ulmus folio latissimo * This soil produces good wheat and clover. scabro* of Ray, which, though it had lost a considerable leading bough in the great storm in the year 1703, equal to a moderate tree, yet when felled, contained eight loads of timber; and being too bulky for a carriage, was sawn off at seven feet above the but, where it measured near eight feet in the diameter.+ This elm I mention, to show to what a bulk planted elms may attain; as this tree must certainly have been such from its situation. In the centre of the village, and near the church, is a square piece of ground surrounded by houses, and vulgarly called the Plestor. In the midst of * The ulmus montana, Sir J. E. Smith, and the most common in Scotland. There are four additional species admitted into the Flora of Great Britain, and which are now to be generally met with in plantations which have been made within the last ten or twelve years.-W. J. + The dimensions here alluded to are insignificant when compared with those of a witch elm recorded by Mr Evelyn, growing in Sir Walter Baggot's park in the county of Stafford, which, after two men had been five days felling, lay 40 yards in length, and was at the stool 17 feet diameter. It broke in the fall, 14 loads of wood; 48 in the top: yielding 8 pair of naves, 8660 feet of boards and planks; it cost L 10, 17s. the sawing. The whole esteemed 97 tons. Evelyn's Sylva, II. 189. Dr Plot mentions an elm growing on Blechington Green, which gave reception and harbour to a poor great-bellied woman, whom the inhospitable people would not receive into their houses, who was brought to-bed in it of a son, now a lusty young fellow.Plot's Oxfordshire.-W. J. We have the following explanation of the plestor in the Antiquities of Selborne. It appears to have been left as a sort of redeeming offering by Sir Adam Gurdon, in olden times an inhabitant of Selborne, well known in English history during the reign of Henry III., particularly is a leader of the Mountfort faction. Mr White says: "As Sir Adam began to advance in years, he found his mind influenced by the prevailing opinion of the reasonableness Long this spot stood, in old times, a vast oak,* with a short squat body, and huge horizontal arms extending almost to the extremity of the area. This venerable tree, surrounded with stone steps, and seats above them, was the delight of old and young, and a place of much resort in summer evenings; where the former sat in grave debate, while the latter frolicked and danced before them. might it have stood, had not the amazing tempest in 1703 overturned it at once, to the infinite regret of the inhabitants, and the vicar, who bestowed several pounds in setting it in its place again; but all his care could not avail; the tree sprouted for a time, then withered and died. This oak I mention to show to what a bulk planted oaks also may arrive; and planted this tree must certainly have been, as appears from what is known concerning the antiquities of the village.+ and efficacy of prayers for the dead; and, therefore, in conjunction with his wife Constantia, in the year 1271, granted to the prior and convent of Selborne all his right and claim to a certain place, placea, called La Pleystow, in the village aforesaid, in liberam, puram, et perpetuam elemosinam. This pleystow, locus ludorum, or play-place, is in a level area near the church, of about 44 yards by 36, and is known now by the name of the Plestor. It continues still, as it was in old times, to be the scene of recreation for the youths and children of the neighbourhood; and impresses an idea on the mind, that this village, even in Saxon times, could not be the most abject of places, when the inhabitants thought proper to assign so spacious a spot for the sports and amusements of its young people."-W. J. Two species of oak only are admitted into the British Flora, quercus robur and sessiliflora. Several others, however, have been introduced, and grow well; the quercus robur is nevertheless superior to all of them. The other species are said to be more susceptible of the dry rot. -W. J. + The celebrated Cowthorpe oak, upon an estate near On the Blackmoor estate there is a small wood called Losel's, of a few acres, that was lately furnished with a set of oaks of a peculiar growth and great value; they were tall and taper like firs, but standing near together, had very small heads, only a little brush, without any large limbs. About twenty years ago the bridge at the Toy, near Hampton Court, being much decayed, some trees were wanted for the repairs that were fifty feet long without bough, and would measure twelve inches diameter at the little end.* Twenty such trees did a purveyor find in this little wood, with this advantage, that many of them answered the description at sixty feet. These trees were sold for L.20 a-piece. In the centre of this grove there stood an oak, which, though shapely and tall on the whole, bulged out into a large excrescence about the middle of the stem. On this a pair of ravens had fixed Wetherby, belonging to the Right Hon. Lady Stourton, measures, within three feet of the surface, 16 yards in circumference, and close by the ground, 26 yards. Its height is about 80 feet, and its principal limb extends 16 yards from the boll. The Greendale oak, at a foot from the ground, is in circumference 33 feet 10 inches. The Shire oak covers nearly 707 square yards; the branches stretching into three counties-York, Nottingham, and Derby. The Fairlop oak, in Essex, at a yard from the ground, is 36 feet in circumference. Damory's oak, in Dorsetshire, at the ground, was in circumference 68 feet, and when decaying, became hollow, forming a cavity capable of containing 20 men; and Wallace's oak, in Torwood, in the county of Stirling, must have been at least 11 or 12 feet in diameter.-W. J. * Dr Plot mentions a table of one solid plank of above 75 feet long, and a yard broad through the whole length, to be seen in Dudley Castle hall, in the park of which the oak grew. Nat. Hist. of Staffordshire.—W, J. their residence for such a series of years, that the m oak was distinguished by the title of The Raven Tree. Many were the attempts of the neighbouring youths to get at this eyry: the difficulty whetted their inclinations, and each was ambitious of surmounting the arduous task. But when they arrived at the swelling, it jutted out so in their way, and was so far beyond their grasp, that the most daring lads were awed, and acknowled- a ged the undertaking to be too hazardous. So the ravens built on, nest upon nest, in perfect security, till the fatal day arrived in which the wood was to be levelled. It was in the month of February, when those birds usually sit. The saw was applied to the but, the wedges were inserted into the opening, the woods echoed to the heavy blows of the beetle or mallet, the tree nodded to its fall; but still the dam sat on. At last, when it gave way, the bird was flung from her nest; and, though her parental affection deserved a better fate, was whipped down by the twigs, which brought her dead to the ground. III. THE fossil shells of this district, and sorts of stone, such as have fallen within my observation, must not be passed over in silence. And first I must mention, as a great curiosity, a specimen that was ploughed up in the chalky fields, near the side of the Down, and given to me for the singularity of its appearance, which, to an incuri-» ous eye, seems like a petrified fish of about four inches long, the cardo passing for an head and |