37T 



the walls the grounds commence to rise rapidly, except where 

 a steep-sided glen penetrates the hill— a small burn at its base 

 hurrying to join the Tweed, Here, about sixty years or so ago, 

 many trees were planted which have now become magnificent 



specimens. 



There are some very fine examples of Douglas fir, and there 



icea 



it 



tree is truly fastigiate rather than pyramidal. 

 Faqus svlvatica var. fastiqiata in Gardeners^ 



_ ft- 9 in. in girth. 

 Tsuga Albertiana {Mertensiana) also is a picture of health and 

 grace. Of Abies pectinata there are the remains of an old 

 avenue, the trunks of the individual trees measuring nearly 

 15 ft. in girth. There are also several notable specimens of 

 Abies nobilisy A. magnificat and A. Nordmanniana. Of the last 

 tlie tallest is a very perfectly shaped tree growing near the 



Sargent" garden which was 92 ft. high when measured a 

 few years ago, and is now considerably taller. In some respects 



the most remarkable tree at Dawyck is a beech with erect-growing 

 branches, now known as the *^ Dawyck Beech. '* It is at present 

 the only fastigiate tree of common beech of which there is com- 

 mon knowledge, except some young ones raised from it. Over 

 fifty years ago Petzold called a beech var. pyrainidaliSy but this 



appears to have been lost sight of. In any case Mr 



It was named 

 agus sylvatica var. fastigiata in Gardeners^ Chronicle^ March 



9th, 1907, p. 149. 



Although by name the balsam poplar {Populus bahamifera) is 

 one of the best known of trees, the actual tree to which the 

 name truly belongs is rarely to be found. Its place in gardens 

 has been usurped by a closely allied poplar (P. candicans), dis- 

 tinguished by its pubescent young shoots.' The real balsam 

 poplar is a fine tree at Dawyck, where in May it filled the air 

 around with the balsamic odour of its leaves and young shoots. 

 Of common trees the most striking and numerous are the beeches, 

 oaks— both pedunculate and sessile — and sycamores. The last 

 especially, with rugged lichen-covered trunks, are very pic- 

 turesque. Besides all these, Mr. Balfour has got together an 

 extensive collection of exotic trees and shrubs of a newer genera- 

 tion. Of Picea Breweriana, that remarkable and beautiful 

 weeping spruce from the Siski^^oa Mountains of California, he 

 has the best stock in Europe, and there are growing here many 

 other rare trees and shrubs that he himself has^ imported from 

 Western America, such as Pachystima Myrsinites, Rhododeri' 

 dron albifiorum (which has recently flowered at Dawyck), the 

 yellow-fruited Sambucus pubens, Cassiope Mertensiana, the 

 American form of Linnaea borealis^ etc. 



It appears to be an undecided question whether the first larches 

 planted in Scotland were at Dawyck or at Dunkeld and Monzie. 

 It is, however, claimed for Dawyck, on the authority of Sir 

 Thomas Dick Lauder, that the first Scottish larches were planted 

 there in 1725, whilst those at Dunkeld and Monzie were not 

 plnnted until 1738, Of the nine original Dawyck larches, five 

 still remain— rugged and battered veterans, but still m liealtl 

 One of these figured by Loudon is among the survivors. 



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B 



