THE ANNUAL EXCURSION. 143 



forester, and Mr D. Melville, gardener, a delightful forenoon 

 was passed amid the beautiful surroundings of the stately 

 northern home of the Duke and Duchess of Sutherland. One of 

 the trees which attracted much notice was a Menzies fir (Abies 

 Menziesii), one of a dozen ornamental trees planted sixty-five 

 years ago, when the late duke was born. It is now between 

 80 and 90 feet in height, is finely clad, and at 5 feet up girthed 

 12 feet. It was considered by the company to be one of the 

 handsomest and largest specimens of this variety of conifer in the 

 country. 



The Duke entertained the Society to lunch in the Drill Hall — 

 Mr Maclean taking his place in the chair ; and in the afternoon 

 the company set out on a long drive, which took them through 

 the Uppatt Woods and along the side of Loch Broro to Gordon- 

 bush, the return journey being by the town of Broro to Golspie. 

 At Uppatt the party saw evidence of the great destruction of 

 timber which took place on the Dunrobin estates by the gale of 

 November 1893. By that blow-down not fewer than 150,000 

 trees, mostly larch and pine, were levelled with the ground, and 

 thereby a great change was made on the face of the landscape. 

 The timber has all been cleared away, but the roots still remain 

 in the Uppatt Wood to tell the tale of the devastation. Another 

 relic of the storm was to be seen in the state of the remaining 

 Scots firs, which are overrun with beetles, which had bred in the 

 fallen timber. How to get rid of them is a nice forestry 

 problem. At Gordonbush the party had a run through the 

 Kilcalmkill Wood, which was planted as far back as 1797 and 

 1798, and though Sutherland shire is about the limit of tree 

 growth in Scotland, the Scots firs on this hillside commanded 

 universal admiration. 



In the evening the Annual Excursion Dinner of the Society 

 took place in the Drill Hall, Golspie, and was largely attended. 

 The Earl of Mansfield presided, and several local guests were 

 present. Toasts suitable to the occasion were proposed. The 

 health of the Duke of Sutherland was duly honoured, and 

 acknowledgment made to the estate officials for their kindness to 

 the party during the day. 



Dornoch — Skibo. 



The third and last day of the Excursion also largely partook of 

 the nature of a pleasure trip, though in the long drive undertaken 



