64 EXCURSIONS TO LOCH LOMONDSIDE. 



Balloch Castle. — The pleasure grounds around Balloch 

 Castle were visited on 9th July, 1892, fine weather prevailing. 

 Of the ancient castle of Belach, or Balloch, which was a seat of 

 the Lennox family anterior to the period of their residence on 

 Inchmurrin, there are now no remains. The modern castle 

 occupies a commanding situation on a steep hill facing Loch 

 Lomond, of which fine views are obtained from the tower. Near 

 the castle is one of the most compact and delightful old flower- 

 gardens which it has ever been our privilege to visit. Here are 

 floral beauties in abundance without any suggestion of crowding, 

 while the pond in the centre, covered with water plants (the white 

 water-lily being conspicuous) gives a restful air to the place, and 

 the admirable order everywhere apparent contributes not a little 

 to the favourable impression which the whole produces on the 

 mind of the visitor. Surrounding the garden is a varied collection 

 of trees, none of them yet remarkable for size. These include a 

 fine pair of the Chilian Araucaria imbricata, measuring respec- 

 tively 5 feet 2 inches at 2 feet 1 1 inches, and 4 feet 4 inches at 

 2 feet 7 inches; a tulip tree {Liriodendron tulipiferd) measuring 

 6 feet 9 \ inches at 2 feet 3 inches; an Abies nobilis, twenty-seven 

 years planted, girthing 6 feet 4 inches at 3 feet \\ inches; and a 

 mammoth pine of California (Wellingtonia gigantea) girthing 

 6 feet 5! inches at 3 feet 2 inches. The kitchen garden, which 

 is at some distance from the castle, contains a fine collection of 

 herbaceous plants, and on the walls here were seen the ivy-leaved 

 toadflax (Linaria Cytnbalaria), the house-leek {Sempervivum 

 tectorum), the rare and striking orange hawk-weed, or Grim-the- 

 Collier (JTieraa'um aurantiacum), together with several handsome 

 species of climbers such as the double-flowered deutzia {Deutzia 

 crenata), with prominent stellate hairs on the pedicels, and the 

 rose-acacia {Robinia hispidd). A cool greenhouse was much 

 admired for its wealth of bloom, one of the most striking objects 

 being the large pendulous crimson flowers of Tacsonia van 

 Volxe?ni, one of the passion flowers. On the approach to the 

 kitchen garden a large beech was measured (girth, 12 feet 

 10 inches at 1 foot 7 inches). Just outside the gardens stands a 

 hazel (Cory/us Avellafia) of quite unusual size for the species. It 

 has a fairly long bole and a fine round top like an ordinary forest 

 tree, standing about 40 feet high and measuring 4 feet 9 inches in 



