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.
Letter II
To Thomas Pennant, Esquire
In the court of Norton-farmhouse, a manor farm to the north-west
of the village, on the white maims, stood within these twenty years
a broad-leaved elm, or wych hazel, ulmus folio latissimo 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 butt, 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 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.
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