222 Field Meetings. 



ance as a generous host and a considerate and instructive guide. 

 He had given up to them a whole day in a busy life. For that 

 and for his generous hospitality they desired to thank him. 



Mr Chapman, factor on Applegarth estate, in seconding the 

 vote of thanks, observed that Sir Herbert had opened not only 

 his house but his heart to them. 



Sir Herbert, in a jocular reply, said he had been taught to 

 believe that an Englishman's home was his castle. With a mere 

 Scotsman he supposed it was different. His authority must be 

 for the time in commission, or he would at once have stopped the 

 compliments. He assured them that their visit to Monreith had 

 afforded great pleasure to Lady Maxwell and himself. 



Lea^^ng Monreith at nine o'clock, the party were driven to 

 Whauphill station, and thence travelled by special train to 

 Newton-Stewart. Joining "the boat express" there, they 

 reached Dumfries at midnight. 



24th Julf/, 1909. 



HODDOM CASTLE. 



The members of Dumfries and Galloway Natural History 

 and Antiquarian Society, to the number of about forty, paid a 

 visit to Hoddom Castle on Saturday, where they spent a most 

 interesting afternoon and were most hospitably entertained by Mr 

 and Mrs Brook. . The largest contingent went from Dumfries ; 

 and there were accessions from Moffat, Lockerbie, Lochmaben, 

 and Annan. From Dumfries a circular drive was made by way 

 of Lockerbie and Ecclefechan, where the birthplace and tomb 

 of Thomas Carlyle were visited. On arrival at Hoddom Castle 

 they had first the privilage of inspecting the beautiful gardens, 

 which are at present rich in bloom, and to which a new and 

 striking feature is being added in the form of a rock garden. 

 This, as designed by Mr Brook, represents an outcrop of lime- 

 stone rock, and the interstices are studded with an extensive and 

 representative collection of rock plants. There is also a pretty 

 pond, bearing on its surface clumps of half-a-dozen very fine 



