Page:Folk-lore - A Quarterly Review. Volume 9, 1898.djvu/361

Rh the photograph of 1856 and the sketch of 1860. The late Sir Richard Owen, who was my informant about all that concerns the folklore connected with the Richmond tree, at once perceived this, and pointed it out to me when I showed him the series of photographs of the tree from six different points of view. These photographs, two of which are given in Plates V. and VI., were taken by me in September, 1891, for the purpose of exhibiting some of them at the Folklore Congress of that year. The learned Professor told me it had more than once been said to him that the tree was a sucker or offshoot from the roots and not a part of the original ash. He could not, he said, be dogmatic upon the subject himself, as he was ignorant about vegetable growth, so had to bow to superior knowledge; but the tree—"my dear old tree," as he always called it—had certainly never been from under his eyes since 1852, when he came into residence at Sheen Lodge. At first, and for many years after, it was entire, supporting a few good branches on a noble base. The larger part of it fell or was blown down in 1875, leaving what still remains, which to his personal knowledge had stood there ever since. These are, as nearly as I can recall them from memory. Sir Richard Owen's own words. How completely he had the tree under his daily observation will be seen by Plate V., which gives the ash in front and Sheen Lodge in the background.

A few days before writing these notes I called on Mr. Sawyer, the superintendent of Richmond Park, who has always lived in the park, his father having held the post he now holds. Naturally Mr. Sawyer knows a great deal about the trees under his care. He remembers the Shrew Ash when it was entire as in Plate IV., and has a lively recollection of one occasion when a cow somehow thrust her head into the fissure, and in her struggles to remove it caught her horns over the bar, and by it was firmly held until he happened to come up and with some difficulty released her. Mr. Sawyer confirms all that has been said