SYCAMOKES IN SCOTLAND. 159 



one of tliese was IJown ott' in a severe ,nale, at a point alioiit 

 half-way up, leaving' only the hare stump remaining of tliat limh. 

 The tree is consequently mucli disfigured, as nearly one-half of 

 its head has heen carried away, aloui; with tlie hroken liml). 

 Tins tret' lias always been known in tlu; memory of tlie oldest 

 inhabitant as " Queen Mary's Tree," and is Ijelieved to have been 

 planted by the hands of the hapless queen herself. There is 

 also another old sycamore at Scone, planted also before the 

 drawing-room windows, which is currently believed to have 

 been planted l)y Queen Mary's son, James VI. It is now a very 

 pictures(iue lawn tree, with a short trunk and well-balanced 

 head, and girths at 1 foot from tlie base 14 feet 2 inches, and at 

 5 feet 12 feet 8 inches, and is about 60 feet high. Another 

 sycamore, little known to the public generally, alth(jugh within 

 a very short distance of Edinburgh, is " Queen Mary's Trt'c,'" 

 which stands on the north side of the old road between Edin- 

 burgh and Dalkeith, about two miles from the city, and close to 

 the farm of " hittle France." This liamlet is so named, frcmi 

 the fact tliat during the residence, at the closely adjoining Castle 

 of Craigmillar, of the unfortunate Mary Queen of Scots, many 

 of her French retainers and followers located themselves there ; 

 and it is interesting to note, that at the present day, the occu- 

 pants of one of the cottages by the roadside, are named " Picard," 

 and trace back for three generations their residence there. 

 This tree is called " Queen Mary's Plane Tree," and is the 

 survivor of two said to have been planted by the queen herself 

 during her sojourn at Craigmillar. Its neighbour, which was 

 planted near the castle, was cut down some years ago; but the 

 tree we have indicated grows in full vigour still, and at 1 foot 

 from the ground measures in circumference 18 feet, and 

 at -4 feet 14 feet 11 inches, and at 8 feet 13 feet 10 inches; 

 with a tall and handsome l)ole of fully 20 feet in length, where 

 the trunk divides with huge limbs, with a wide umbrageous 

 head, conspicuous a long way oh", it measured in height to its 

 highest tip, in 1878, 84 feet 9 inches. On the ishuul of Loch 

 Leven there is an old sycamore called " Queen Mary's Plane 

 Tree," which tradition asserts was planted by the queen while 

 in imprisonment there. It is now 12 feet 9 inches in girth at 

 5 feet from the ground. Peside it grows an old thorn, also 

 ascribed to the queen. The original tree was blown down in 

 1850, but there is now a vigorous ohshoot from it i'ull}- 12 feet 

 in height. Tlie original hawthorn seems to have been planted 

 in what must have been the old garden to the castle, and was 

 always known as "Queen INIary's Thorn. Another old plane or 

 sycamore, noted as a Queen Mary tree, still exists, along with 

 other living relics there of the hapless queen, on the island of 

 Inch-ma-home, on the lake of ]\Ieiiteith. There can be no 



