402 TRANSACTIONS, NATURAL HISTORY SOCIETY OF GLASGOW. 



longer bole. The only Beech in the county that approaches them, 

 so far as I know, is one near Stair House, on the bank of the 

 river Ayr, which, in October, 1892, had a girth of trunk of 17 

 feet 8 inches at 4 feet 3 inches. 



The Horse Chestnut recorded by Mr. R. Hutchison in the 

 Highland and Agricidtural Society'' s Transactions for 1884, is 

 described by him as a very noble tree, and outstripping all other 

 specimens in the district. He says — "It girths 17 feet 9 inches 

 at 5 feet, where its bole divides into a beautifully umbrageous 

 head. This is indeed a very old tree, and shows evident symptoms 

 of antiquity. It stands near the front court of the Castle, and 

 has been clasped very many decades gone by, and bolted on several 

 occasions, the bolt in some cases passing right through the main 

 trunk. Its girth is 17 feet 3 inches at 3 feet, and at 4 feet it 

 branches out into heavy limbs, two of which measure 12 feet 6 

 inches at the joint with the trunk, and are 9 feet 6 inches and 



9 feet 10 inches after they divide. The diameter of spread of 

 branches is 70 feet clear." This description refers to a year or 

 two previous to 1884, about which date, or soon after, this vener- 

 able tree was wrecked in a severe storm. The two trees growing 

 in the Deer Park are both handsome. There is a larger one at 

 Loudoun Castle, with a girth of trunk in April, 1899, of 14 feet at 

 2 feet, and dividing at 4 feet into two large stems. Mr. George 

 Paxton records one at Cloncaird Castle with a girth of 13 feet 



10 inches at 5 feet in June, 1894. 



The Hornbeam in the table is a peculiar tree. It looks like 

 one tree dividing into three stems at about 18 inches from the 

 ground, but it may really be three trees joined together at the 

 base. The measurements at 1 foot up, and even those at the nar- 

 rowest part, about 18 inches to 2 feet up, are not quite satisfactory. 

 The former are not free from the swollen base, while the latter are 

 in part above the point where the tree divides. Still they show a 

 fairly uniform rate of increase, and a later measurement, in October, 

 1899, gives an increase of one inch upon the previous figures for 

 July, 1898, noted in the table. 



