8 LANARKSHIRE RAMBLES. 



King David I. The tale savours of a land nearly denuded of 

 trees, when planting was a creditable thing, only a century or two 

 back ; not of a time when there were but a few clearances here 

 and there in a wild forest, and men were esteemed as they wielded 

 their axes vigorously against the great trees. Most of them show 

 signs of decay, for even to an oak, type of robustness, a thousand 

 years brings decrepitude. A century ago they seem, indeed, to 

 have been very much as now, for Naismith of Drumloch, writing 

 of them, says they were very much decayed. The forest is full of 

 trees such as artists love — " stag-headed " trees in all stages, for 

 oaks die from the top assuming this form, what Shakespeare calls 

 " high top bald with dry antiquity." Shortness of trunk and great 

 girth relatively are the especial characteristics of these trees, 

 betokening stubbornness and endurance. In gnarled cantanker- 

 ousness they have outlived tumultuous generations of fretful men, 

 who have struggled and schemed around them and then passed 

 away like the grass and herbs in their shade. In their decay they 

 afford a home to multitudes of chattering jackdaws, and fungi such 

 as the poor-man's beefsteak (Fistulina hepaticd) prey on them. 

 Yet as long as they live even their hollowness cannot hold them 

 in trammels, and with every spring they awake to renewed 

 greenness. 



Mr. Robert Hutchison gives in the "Transactions of the High- 

 land and Agricultural Society of Scotland" for 1881, particulars 

 of the measurement of some of these trees. At 5 feet he found 

 the girth of several as follows :— 22—, 21, 21^, 20, 18, i4yW feet. 

 Measurements of the trees have been frequently made by members 

 of the Society with somewhat similar results, while measurements 

 of trees nearer to the Barncluith entrance give 12— at 4, 14 at 

 3^, 15 at 2 T %, ii t % at 3J, i8 T v at between 3 and 4, 21/3- 

 at 4J, i2yf at 2, 21^ at between 3 and 4 feet. That these 

 trees are much inferior in size generally to some English oaks is 

 evident, but when we consider the more northern situation, the 

 exposure, and the soil, we can readily admit that their antiquity 

 may be even greater. Under any circumstances they are 

 the most interesting remains in Scotland of the ancient forest- 

 lands. 



In the park near Cadzow Castle the great maple becomes 

 common and presents itself in many fine examples. One of 



