200 THE OLD AND EEMAEKABLE 



neath and around, and an idea also prevailed that the bitter 

 juices contained in the falling leaves in autumn were injurious 

 to the soil. Traces, however, do exist where the walnut has 

 been planted to form avenues to old buildings. One of the 

 finest of these is still to be seen at Logiealmond, within two 

 hundred yards of the old mansion house. Many of the trees 

 once forming this fine and imposing old avenue were blown 

 down during the great gale in December 29, 1879, when the 

 Tay Bridge disaster occurred ; and one or two also succumbed 

 to the storms of last spring (eTanuary and Tebruary 1882). 

 There are, however, still seventeen trees standing, and at 

 present four of the last blown ones are lying on the ground 

 as they fell. The trees, reckoning from the concentric circles, 

 are about 110 years of age ; the largest still surviving mea- 

 sures, at 1 foot above the surface 10 feet 3 inches, at 3 feet 

 it is 8 feet 8 inches ; and at 5 feet, 8 feet 1 inch in circum- 

 ference. The seventeen trees will average from 6 to 10 feet 

 in circumference at 1 foot from the ground. The Kinross 

 House walnut has long been considered to be the largest tree of 

 its species in Scotland ; but this is not so, for reference to the 

 appended list will show that at least one tree is larger. This 

 premier walnut exists at Stobhall, Perthshire. It is no less 

 than 26 feet in girth at 1 foot and 21 feet 2 inches at 5 feet 

 from the ground, with a massive bole 12 feet in length, and a 

 total height of 70 feet, and the diameter of its spread of branches 

 is 99 feet. It is in a vigorous condition. Another picturesque 

 old Perthshire walnut is to be seen at Abercairnev near Crieff'. 

 It stands near the site of the old mansion house. The inside of 

 the trunk and heavy limbs are very much decayed and quite 

 hollow, so that a full-grown man can stand inside the trunk, 

 while the holes in the giant limbs are the haunts of many 

 species of the feathered tribe. The top of the tree appears 

 quite vigorous, and when in foliage looks perfectly healthy. 

 It grows in a good loamy soil, upon clay and gravel subsoil, 

 at an altitude of about 120 feet above sea-level. 



Growing on the lonely island of Inchmahome, in the lake of 

 Menteith, are some interesting and picturesque old trees. They 

 are chiefly Spanish chestnuts, but amongst these are several 

 walnuts around the old garden of the jmory. One fine 

 specimen given in the appendix, stands sentinel-like and con- 

 fronting a large Spanish chestnut at the western gateway of 

 the priory. These two trees, as well as others of the same 

 species, have evidently been selected to fill special points in 

 what has in the Middle Ages been a well-laid out and artistically 

 arranged pleasure ground. The Spanish chestnuts on the island 

 have been already described in the chapter on that species, and 

 need not now be referred to. Mary, Queen of Scots, when a child, 



