402 TRANSACTIONS, NATURAL HISTORY SOCIETY OF GLASGOW, 
longer bole. The only Beech in the county that approaches them, 
so far as I know, is one near Stair House, on the bank of the 
river Ayr, which, in October, 1892, had a girth of trunk of 17 
feet 8 inches at 4 feet 3 inches. 
The Horse Chestnut recorded by Mr. R. Hutchison in the 
Highland and Agricultural Society's Transactions for 1884, is 
described by him as a very noble tree, and outstripping all other 
specimens in the district. He says—‘“It girths 17 feet 9 inches 
at 5 feet, where its bole divides into a beautifully umbrageous 
head. This is indeed a very old tree, and shows evident symptoms 
of antiquity. It stands near the front court of the Castle, and 
has been clasped very many decades gone by, and bolted on several 
occasions, the bolt in some cases passing right through the main 
trunk. Its girth is 17 feet 3 inches at 3 feet, and at 4 feet it 
branches out into heavy limbs, two of which measure 12 feet 6 
inches at the joint with the trunk, and are 9 feet 6 inches and 
9 feet 10 inches after they divide. The diameter of spread of 
branches is 70 feet clear.” This description refers to a year or 
two previous to 1884, about which date, or soon after, this vener- 
able tree was wrecked in a severe storm. The two trees growing 
in the Deer Park are both handsome. ‘There is a larger one at 
Loudoun Castle, with a girth of trunk in April, 1899, of 14 feet at 
2 feet, and dividing at 4 feet into two large stems. Mr. George 
Paxton records one at Cloncaird Castle with a girth of 13 feet 
10 inches at 5 feet in June, 1894. 
The Hornbeam in the table is a peculiar tree. It looks like 
one tree dividing into three stems at about 18 inches from the 
ground, but it may really be three trees joined together at the 
base. The measurements at 1 foot up, and even those at the nar- 
rowest part, about 18 inches to 2 feet up, are not quite satisfactory. 
The former are not free from the swollen base, while the latter are 
in part above the point where the tree divides. Still they show a 
fairly uniform rate of increase, and a later measurement, in October, 
1899, gives an increase of one inch upon the previous figures for 
July, 1898, noted in the table. 
