7 
Anster Fair, in which he so graphically describes the feats 
of the heroine “Maggie Lauder,” till the “East Neuk o’ Fife” 
is reached at the ancient and picturesque royal burgh of Crail. 
The route now bends sharp to the westward, and runs through 
a highly cultivated district, past the stations of Kingsbarns and 
Boarhills, on to Stravithie, which was reached about ten o’clock. 
Here Dr Cleghorn was in waiting to receive the party, and 
gave them a most hospitable welcome. Let us pause to say a 
word about this most genial of ex-presidents of the Society, 
and of his beautiful little estate. 
Stravithie is situated about five miles from the venerable 
city of St Andrews, and is the ancestral home of Hugh F. C. 
Cleghorn, M.D., LL.D., F.R.S.E., F.L.S., one of the best known 
and most popular of foresters that Scotland has ever produced. 
For many years at the head of forestry affairs in India, he has, 
since his return home about twenty years ago, taken the keenest 
interest in Scottish forestry, and promoted every movement to 
advance the education and practical training of foresters. A 
member of the Royal Scottish Arboricultural Society since 1865, 
he has filled the office of President for five terms, first in 1872 
and 1873, and again from 1883 to 1885, during which latter 
period the Forestry Exhibition was held at Edinburgh, when 
he took a prominent part in carrying out the scheme, and was 
the moving spirit of its success. For these and other reasons 
Scottish foresters owe a debt of gratitude to Dr Cleghorn, and 
the visit of the Arboricultural Society to Stravithie may fitly 
be called their pilgrimage to the forester’s Mecca. Dr Cleghorn 
takes great personal interest in all the affairs of his estate, and 
is his own forester in arranging and managing his plantations. 
These are well placed for sheltering and ornamenting the 
estate, which extends to upwards of a thousand acres, divided 
into several well-cultivated farms, occupied by prosperous 
tenants. In a rather high-lying and naturally bare district, 
shelter was an important point in the formation of the planta- 
tions, but still they have been laid out with the view of also 
obtaining a fair return for the land they occupy; and Dr 
Cleghorn has carried out several experiments as to the best 
methods of planting, so as to combine shelter, ornament, and 
profit. The oldest trees, chiefly hardwoods, are growing in the 
policies around the mansion, and along the prettily wooded 
glen through which flows the limpid Kenly burn. 
Taking carriage at Stravithie Station, the party drove through 
a bit of nice open country, with waving grain on each side of 
the road, and along a shady avenue to Stravithie House, which 
is perched on the side of a bosky dell, with rose-covered walls 
and entourage of beautiful pines, whose colours on this sunny 
