EXCURSIONS TO LOCH LOMONDSIDE. 6 1 



informed by the present minister, Rev. John Roy, that for a long 

 time in this century and before it the church bell was regularly 

 hung. It appears that for a time it hung in a belfry on the 

 top of the west gable, but anterior to its being placed there and 

 subsequent to the breakdown of this erection, it did duty in the 

 old ash. When visited by us the tree measured 1 7 feet \\ inches 

 in girth at 5 feet, but it was much decayed, and in the interval it 

 has succumbed, having been blown down during the night of the 

 23rd September, 1892. On a section of the trunk, taken near the 

 root, 204 rings were counted. 



The grounds of Buchanan Castle were next entered, under the 

 leadership of the estate forester. The gardens were shortly 

 reached, and among items of interest to which attention was 

 particularly directed were the original plant of the variety of the 

 lady-fern known as the Buchanan fern, and some large, handsome 

 examples of Araucaria imbricata, one of the latter being photo- 

 graphed. The handsome Welsh poppy (Meconopsis cambricd) 

 occurred here as an escape. Proceeding towards the castle, 

 which is quite modern, its predecessor having been destroyed by 

 fire in 1850, the forester drew attention to a Spanish chestnut, 

 planted by Charles Kean in 1865, which measured 2 feet 

 7| inches at 2 feet 5 inches. The party then passed the castle, 

 attention being drawn chiefly to the fine trees which abound, 

 among introduced species which have attained considerable size 

 being the hemlock-spruce {Abies canadensis) and Douglas fir. 



In Hennedy's Clydesdale Flora a very fine Spanish chestnut is 

 mentioned as growing on the lawn here. The largest tree of this 

 kind on the estate stands in the park, west of the castle, and may 

 be the one referred to. It measured 15 feet 9 inches at 2 feet 

 6 inches. The noble and extensive park, which stretches west- 

 wards from the castle to the shores of Loch Lomond, is studded 

 throughout with trees of large size, chiefly oaks. One of the 

 large oaks (near a well) measured 16 feet Z\ inches at 5 feet, 

 while another, well known in the district as the " Five Sisters of 

 Buchanan," from the five great branches which shoot up almost 

 straight from the main trunk, measured 19 feet 3 \ inches at 2 feet 

 4 inches. It was with regret that those present saw that these 

 sylvan giantesses must inevitably soon succumb to the insidious 

 attacks of a most destructive fungus, Polyporics sulfweus, of which 



