474 TEAXS ACTIONS AND PROCEEDINGS OF THE [Sess. i.vii. 



beech, besides being the king of Scottish deciduous trees, is 

 probably one of the grandest beeches in the United Kingdom. 

 It stands in the well-sheltered haugh of the Eiver Esk 

 behind Xewbattle Abbey. The stem rises from the 

 ground by several strong buttresses, but at about 4i feet 

 up it already forms a cylindrical bole, which an encircling- 

 tape touches pretty nearly all round. The bole, after 

 ascending with a beautiful but not deeply marked spiral 

 curve, divides into a larger and smaller limb, the fork 

 being about 17 feet above ground. At a further height of 

 5 or 6 feet the larger limb bifurcates, and finally sub- 

 divides into the mass of branches and twigs which rise to a 

 height of about 100 feet. The ramification consists of two 

 divisions, the upper forming the great head of foliage, 

 while the lower consists of about a dozen branches, which, 

 springing from a height of about 25 feet, arch downwards, 

 reach the ground from 20 to 30 feet from the trunk, and 

 form around it a natural arbour, about GO feet in diameter. 

 Some of these branches break up into a number of small 

 ones, which trail along the ground for some distance, and 

 finally turn upwards at the outer margin of the tree ; but 

 four or five others, comparati\ely slender, reach the ground 

 without branching, and after rooting give origin to a 

 number of verita])le young trees much thicker than their 

 parent limbs. 



Thus I found, in autumn 1892, that a parent branch 

 measured 24-60 inches in girth, and that tlie thickened 

 trailing portion, rooted in the ground, gave oft' four young 

 trees, two of which girthed respectively 51*10 and 43"10 

 inches, the other two being about 40 and 23 inches. 



On the 3rd November ISO 2 I took careful measure- 

 ments of the trunk, aided by Mr. F. R. Coles and Mr. 

 M'Hattie, head gardener at Newbattle Abbey, with the 

 following results: — 



Ft. III. 



Girth about ."> ft. up, 



,, () ft. up, 



., (lift, up 



,, ,, 7 ft. up, 



,, ,, 7^ ft. u] 



Circumference of the foliage (taken 1889), . 

 Average diameter of foliage ,. . . 



Longest horizontal hrancli ,, . . 



