REPORTS ON EXCURSIONS. 257 



increase in the two terms of years is almost identical, -67 of an 

 inch yearly in the first, and -69 of an inch in the second. The 

 bole is short, dividing into two large stems at 7 feet up, but the 

 tree is a tall one, rising to a height of 87 feet. The 'Five 

 Sisters' tree, which was 18 feet near the surface about 1840, was 

 19 feet 3 J inches at 2 feet -1 inches from the ground in May, 

 1889, and 19 feet 6 inches at 2 feet 4 inches in September, 1900. 

 The tree is decaying, and part of the stem has been broken off, 

 otherwise the increase would have been greater than 2 J inches in 

 twelve seasons. Another Oak measured 13 feet 6 inches in girth 

 at 4 feet, with a bole of 8 feet. 



" In the park west of the castle is a Spanish Chestnut 

 (Castanea sativa, Mill.), girthing 18 feet 6 inches at 2 feet 6 

 inches. It divides at 8 feet from the ground into three large 

 stems, and the bole is evidently breaking asunder into three. 

 The trunk is covered with patches of lead. In May, 1889, the 

 girth was 15 feet 9 inches at 2 feet 6 inches, and part of the 

 apparent increase is evidently due to the trunk being forced 

 asunder by the weight of the three divisions. Near the castle is 

 a Spanish Chestnut planted by Charles Kean in 1865. It has a 

 tapering bole of nearly 35 feet in length. In May, 1889, it had 

 a girth at 2 feet 6 inches up of 2 feet 7 J inches, now it is 5 feet 

 5 J inches, an increase of 2 feet 9 J inches in 12 seasons, or at the 

 rate of fully 2| inches yearly. 



"A Birch (Betula verrucosa, Ehrh.), measured 7 feet If inches 

 at 5 feet, with a bole of 12 feet. 



"In the policies are the ruins of Our Lady Chapel, or the 

 Chapel of St. Mary of Buchanan, which, wrote the late Mr. J. 

 Guthrie Smith, ' are rapidly disappearing, being hid from view by 

 shrubs and undergrowth. It was surrounded by a churchyard, 

 and stands among very fine old trees, notably a magnificent 

 Plane, a little to the north-west of the old house of Buchanan, 

 not far from the present stable-yard. It lay east and west, and 

 its site is still marked by stones, and still standing in the middle 

 is what remains of a large stone font. There are several tomb- 

 stones lying in and near the old church, but upon none of them is 

 any inscription left.' The present minister of the parish has, we 

 were told, had the font and some of the tombstones removed to 

 the church. We measured the Plane (Acer Pseudo-platanus, L.), 



