HORSE CHESTNUT TREES IN SCOTLAND. 189 



evident symptoms of antiquity. It stands near the front court 

 of the castle, and has been clas^jed very many decades gone by, 

 and bolted on several occasions, the bolt in some cases passing 

 ric{ht throunjh the main trunk. Its mvlh. is 17 feet 3 inches at 

 3 feet, and at 4 feet it branches out into heavv 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. Soil very 

 damp and marshy. 



At Camis-Eskan, Dumbartonshire, growing in light soil and 

 gravelly subsoil, we find two very good specimens, respectively 

 I*! feet 5 inches and 15 feet 6 inches at 1 foot, and 13 feet 3 

 inches and 13 feet 9 inches at 5 feet above the roots, and thriv- 

 ing in the genial and salubrious climate of the west coast. But 

 for the largest and most remarkable growths, we must look to 

 the more inland counties of central Scotland, where we find the 

 premier specimen of Scotland, at Moncrieffe, Perthshire. This 

 noble tree is now 21 feet 10 inches at 1 foot and 19 feet at 5 

 feet from the ground, with a massive bole 8 feet in length. 

 This grand tree grows at an altitude of 50 feet above sea-level, 

 and is 80 feet in height. At the point where its bole divides into 

 three large limbs it measures 22 feet 3 inches in girth. The largest 

 limb itself measures 11 feet 8 inches, the next in point of size 

 10 feet 10 inches, and the third 10 feet 6 inches in circum- 

 ference. Tradition reports it to be about 250 years old. Walker 

 gives the oldest horse chestnuts in Scotland, and he is corro- 

 borated by Gilpin and Sir T. D. Lauder, as growing at Dalwick 

 in Peeblesshire, and they are given in Walker's Catalogue 

 as "perhaps the largest in Britain," and as being then (17S0) 

 about 150 years old. Diligent inquiries as to their existence 

 and condition at the present day have failed to elicit any infor- 

 mation. So they are probably gone. Here also is another due 

 tree, which is SO feet high, and girths 13 feet 8 inches at 5 feet 

 above ground. At Lawers, Perthshire, another magnificent 

 specimen is noticed ; and for others, we may simply refer in 

 the following order to the trees detailed in the appendix, from 

 Dunipace (Stirlingshire) ; Hatton (Mid-Lothian) ; Edzell* and 

 Gray (Forfarshire); Gordon Castle, and Ballindalloch (Moray- 

 shire) ; while others not quite so heavy, but still of considerable 

 magnitude, in various counties and altitudes and soils, illustrate 

 how well the horse chestnut tree succeeds in Scotland generally 

 as a park tree. 



The horse chestnut in Scotland sometimes presents peculia- 

 rities in its form of growth worthy of notice. For example, we 



* Tliis historical tree " by the oM Ca.stle of Eilzell," is iiicutioned as Wing in 

 1863, 12 feet in girth at 4 feet above ground, an»l will be seen to be now 13 feet 

 9 inches at 5 feet. Its trunk, whii-h was in 1803sliglitly dccayoil by a lodgiumt 

 of water, is now liealefl ovlt. Under this tree one of the lairds of Kd/ell is said 

 to have been murdered by an assassin, employed for the i»urpose by the betrothed 

 lover of his sistir, who wis luirjss to the estatf. 



