182 ON THE OLD A^'D REMARKABLE 



the next in point of size of the old recorded trees. The beech at 

 Kellie Castle, growing in the garden, and in inquiring after which 

 we supposed we were tracing out at the present day, the condition 

 of a beech stated to be growing there in the 1812 list, and to be 

 then 16 feet in girth at 3 feet from the ground, — we lind to be 

 now 18 feet in circumference at that point. It appears to be 

 still in a pretty good state of preservation, although the main 

 branches of it were broken off by a gale many years ago, and the 

 tree is thus much shorn of its symmetry. As, however, the bole 

 of the tree given in the record of 1812 is stated to be 30 feet in 

 lenojth, and the actual measurement now of the tree we refer to 

 is only about half that length, there may be some mistake in the 

 identity of this tree with that catalogued in 1812, as having 

 girthed, in 1793, 16 feet. It was also ascertained in the course of 

 inquiry regarding this tree, that the remains of several old 

 beeches had recently been removed, and, in particular, of one of a 

 large girth between the castle and the turnpike road. Further 

 there are now no other very large or venerable beeches at Kellie 

 Castle, excepting the one in the garden above referred to. The 

 celebrated beech tree at Ormiston Hall, East-Lothian, wliich, 

 according to Walker, measured, on 10th May 1762, 18 feet 10 

 inches at 3 feet from the ground ; and the large beech at Oxen- 

 ford, Midlothian, which he states on 6th June 1763 girthed 19 

 feet 6 inches at 3 feet from the ground, have both long since dis- 

 appeared ; but the most careful inquiry regarding these two 

 veterans fails to throw any light on either the date or the manner 

 of their destruction. 



So much for the tale at the present day of those old recorded 

 beeches, which, after much investigation, we are able to give. 

 Time would fail to describe the best specimens of existing and 

 hitherto unrecorded trees, such as those given in the appended 

 returns, to which for all particulars therefore, reference must be 

 made. Before concluding, it may be perhaps proper to notice 

 a peculiar habit of the beech, developed in several localities, of 

 assuming a spiral columnar growth of trunk near the base, 

 w^here the conoidal swellings assume a most picturesque oblique 

 buttress-like appearance. This is well illustrated in a beech tree 

 growing at Freeland, Perthshire. Another peculiarity of the 

 beech is its tendency to inarch, or naturally graft its limbs one 

 upon another, producing frequently the most fantastic freaks of 

 nature. Thus, at Dunkeld, in the Athole w^oods, we find a beech 

 which presents the appearance of growing straight upwards till 

 at about 5 feet from the ground, it seems to split into two, and 

 to join again about 4 feet higher up, the two stems becoming 

 incorporated by a process of natural grafting. In that locality 

 there are many fine beech trees, of which we have given records 

 in the appendix. 



