60 EXCURSION TO ETTBICK FOEEST. [N6t., 



thin sharp loam characteristic of our Silurian district ; but in the highest parts 

 the rock is almost at the surface, and in the lower and more level portions a 

 pretty deep clay soil presents itself. While these lower portions, and the margins 

 bordered by the old wood are well sheltered, the extreme height, where the 

 ground runs out to the apex of the irregular triangle, is much exposed, and open 

 to the fierce blasts of the S.W. wind. Since 1829, the whole of ihis ground has 

 been ' hained,' i.e., preserved from the intrusion of sheep and cattle : nor has any 

 part of it been under the plough, with the exception of a few small patches near 

 the lower boundary, where oats are sown as food for game. In a letter with 

 which the Duke of Buccleuch has favoured me on the subject of this paper, 

 His Grace says, ' I took sheep and cattle off that ground several years ago for 

 various reasons. One was to improve the picturesque effect by getting rid of 

 the harsh outline of the fence of the Bowhill woods to the west ; also to allow 

 the growth of whatever might prove to be the indigenous trees and plants of the 

 Forest, which had been kept down by the continued grazing of stock for many 

 years. I hoped to have seen young Oaks spring up, but in that have been 

 disappointed. * * The Oak of Ettrick Forest exists now only in tradition, 

 though a few specimens still remain.' In another note the Duke adds, ' One part 

 of my intention was frustrated, viz., that of seeing what natural plants, as well 

 trees, would grow and flourish there when 'hained 'from cattle, inasmuch as 

 some portions of the ground were very wet and swampy, and were in consequence 

 drained, thus preventing the growth of plants that flourish in wet and boggy 

 places,' What Howebottom was before the Duke resolved to make it the subject 

 of a most interesting experiment, may be seen by a glance at Fauldshope Hill, — 

 a bare and treeless pasturage, bearing heather, and the common hill grasses, 

 carices, and rushes. What it is I shall endeavour to describe. If the experiment 

 of the noble proprietor has failed to secure the reappearance of the native Oak 

 it has fully accomplished his other intention, that of adding to the picturesqueness 

 of the Bowhill grounds. It is easier to give details, and to enumerate the species 

 of trees and plants growing in it, than to convey an idea of the beauty of 

 this wild spot. What strikes one looking on it from the opposite side of the 

 valley is its boskiness, — a certain richness and fulness in the outlines of the trees 

 and bushes, which have had room to grow, and which, standing singly, or gathered 

 into small groups, present most pleasing objects to the eye. A landscape gaidener 

 would discover endless subjects of study here, and carry away innumerable hints ; 

 while the mere lover of the picturesque will find his eye turning again and again 

 from the larger featui-es of the scenery around, and resting with delight on this 

 charming piece of bush-country. Viewed from Selkirk, in the early part of 

 the present autumn, Howebottom has been specially attractive, with its ground- 

 work of bright green bracken, its large beds of purple heather, and its rounded 

 masses of trees and brushwood, all lying in the embrace of the dense woods, and 

 backed by the flowing outlines of the hills. With the exception of a few trees 

 which have been planted for ornament, and which will be more particularly 

 noticed afterwards, all the wood on the ground must be accounted native, the 

 berries from which it has sprung having been carried by birds, or the seeds 

 transported by the agency of the wind, during the fifty years the ground has 

 been 'hained.' The Mountain Ash {Pyrus aucuparia), the Birch {Betula alba), 

 and the Hawthorn (C/raicp^jw o.vi/acantha), are the most abundant trees, occurring 

 in nearly equal proportions, although unequally distributed over the ground. 

 Thus, Birch trees are most numerous, as might be expected, in the neighbourhood 

 of the old Birchwood at the S.E. corner of the ground. The Hawthorn appears 

 most abundantly in the^middle ground, and under the shelter of the high sur- 

 rounding woods ; while the Mountain Ash prevails in the upper regions, and 



