As the ceremonies necessary for such a
consecration are no longer understood, all succession is at an end,
and no such tree is known to subsist in the manor, or hundred.
(* For a similar practice, see Plot's Staffordshire.)
As to that on the Plestor,
The late vicar stubb'd and burnt it,
when he was way-warden, regardless of the remonstrances of the
by-standers, who interceded in vain for its preservation, urging its
power and efficacy, and alleging that it had been
Religione patrum multos servata per annos.
I am, etc.
Letter XXIX
To The Honourable Daines Barrington
Selborne, Feb. 7, 1776.
Dear Sir,
In heavy fogs, on elevated situations especially, trees are perfect
alembics: and no one that has not attended to such matters can
imagine how much water one tree will distil in a night's time by
condensing the vapour, which trickles down the twigs and boughs,
so as to make the ground below quite in a float. In Newton-lane, in
October 1775, on a misty day, a particular oak in leaf dropped so
fast that the cart-way stood in puddles and the ruts ran with water,
though the ground in general was dusty.
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