154 



ON THE OLD AXD REMARKABLE 



search and records of old and remarkable trees, does not notice 

 this tree, while he gives details of two sycamores growing at 

 Eedhall, witliin a few miles from Corstorphine, in no way very 

 remarkable for size at the time he measured them — the one being 

 at 4 feet high only 8 feet 2 inches, and the other 9 feet 4 inches 

 when he wrote. These two trees are still extant, and measured 

 on loth September 1879 — eighty-one years after Walker — they 

 are as follows : — 



These measurements show that in a period of eighty-one years, 

 or rather of eighty-one " growing seasons," these trees have in- 

 creased in the circumference of their trunks on an average — for 

 No. 1, of 0'27l inches ; and for N"o. 2, of 0"358 inches annually. 

 This is 23i'ol-»ably a very fair approximate average of the usual 

 increment to the trunk of a tree of the sycamore variety when 

 already what may be termed full grown — that is, after it has 

 ceased to increase perceptibly in height, and has assumed the 

 rugged bark of a full-grown, or rather of a fully-de^'eloped tree. 

 The difference between the two trees in point of increase of bulk 

 may easily be understood, when it is stated that No. 1 has for 

 many years shown symptoms of oozing from the stem, thus 

 naturally draining much of its vital sap away, and so hindering 

 the liealthy deposit of young wood annuall}^ ; whereas this has 

 not been the case with No. 2, which is reported to be still quite 

 vigorous, and evincing no symptoms of any decay. 



Amongst the remarkaljle sycamores which have attracted the 

 attention of pre^'ious writers, prol)ably the most notable is that 

 known as the " Kippenross Plane Tree." This venerable speci- 

 men is now no more, having some years ago been snapt across- 

 a few feet abo^'e the ground hj a gale. Tliis tree is not noticed 

 by I)r Walker, but it is depicted by Nattes in " Scotia depicta," 

 and he gives its girth in 1801 as being 28 feet 9 inches. This 

 measurement nmst have been taken at the gTound line, for in 

 1798, at 5 feet from the ground, it was 22 feet 6 inches in cir- 

 cumference. This tree was long reported to be the largest tree 

 in North Britain ; but this distinction is really due to the large 

 chestnut at Finavf)n in Forfarshire, recorded in vol. xi. of the 

 Highland Society's " Transactions," p. 43, and now also numbered 



