Travel Notes: Rural England. 263 



where the bark was being harvested. Selected trees were marked 

 and the bark removed from branches even as small as one's 

 finger. Men, Wom^en and children were em.ployed at the task. 

 They carried the bark on their backs to drying-racks and from 

 these to large piles, often for long distances. After these opera- 

 tions were over, a rather sparse stand of trees was left for future 



crops. ^ ^ 



To one unaccustomed to the higher latitude, the days at 

 Callander seemed extremely long. What time in the morning 

 the sun rose in June I did not learn, but the setting was late, 

 and twilight was long, so that on June 25th, we could read by the 

 windows in our rooms as late as 10:30. On about that date the 

 lighting up time for m.otors was not until 10 o'clock. 



From Callander we returned to Glasgow, where we visited 

 the University and saw the large botanical building under the 

 guidance of Dr. Lawson. From. Glasgow we crossed the beauti- 

 ful country of Ayr, which resembles in many ways the Tweed 

 valleys and adjacent highlands, and the Clyde valley. The 

 bottom lands have a wealth of vegetation, but the uplands aire 

 essentially n:oors, where one finds bracken and occasionally 

 heather. Where planted on the uplands, the larch and pine 

 grow well. We visited several localities in Ayrshire, among 

 them Manchline, where we saw at Mossgiel the daisy field made 

 famous by Bums, and there picked some of these flowers which 

 richly covered field and roadside. Between Dumfries and Car- 

 lisle we re-entered England, and as we drew near Carlisle saw 

 the shallow pits where beat was being cut and the piles of peat 

 drving for market. The industry was apparently a new one at 

 the place. 



The niountain region of Cumberland and Westmoreland, 

 the Lake Country of England, was next visited. The Cumbrian 

 mountains, the highest of which is given as being only 3,210 feet, 

 are picturesque. The summits are rounded, the valleys are usu- 

 ally narrow and tortuouS and many expand to hold pretty lakes. 

 In the valleys are many attractive estates where one finds large 

 oaks, alders, birches, and a variety of conifers, among the trees, 

 and a large number of luxuriant rhododendrons. We climbed 

 Helvellyn (3,118 feet) and were interested to note the entire 

 absence of trees and shrubs, even of the heather on its upper 



