N.n-. 18112.] BOTANICAL SOCIETY OF EDINBURGH. 



499 



From the scanty data I have to offer, the horse chestnut 

 appears to be rather a quick grower, even at a considerable 

 age. 



IX. The AValnut {Jiujlans regia). 



The wahiut cannot be said to make itself much at home 

 in Scotland, where it rarely, if ever, ripens its seed, but a 

 few have been known to attain fair proportions, and the 

 tree at Stobhall, 21 feet 2 inches in girth, 70 feet high, 

 and with a branch spread of 99 feet, must be exceptionally 

 fine. 



Scottish walnuts above 15 feet in girth, at 5 feet, 

 chiefly from Hutchison's Table of 40 Scottish walnuts. 

 (Trans. H. and Agr. Soc. Scot. xvL, 1884, p. 196.) 



Two walnuts, reputed to be the finest in Scotland, were 

 blown down in 1882, at Otterstone, Fife. One is stated, 

 in the information given to Mr. Hutchison, to have been 

 10 feet in girth at 12 feet, and the other 18 feet at 2 

 feet, but perhaps measurements taken at such unusual 

 heights were intended to make the most of the girths, and 

 were at the swelling below the great limbs, because I am 

 informed by Mr. John Taylor, cabinetmaker, Edinburgh, 

 who bought one of them, that its stem, 12 feet in length, 

 averaged 4 feet 6 inches in diametei', giving a girth of 

 about 14 feet. Mr. Taylor also tells me that, although 

 the wood of Scottish walnuts is almost always soft and of 

 little value for cabinetmaking, in this instance it was equal 

 to the best Italian quality, and proved to be worth between 

 £300 and £400 for veneering. 



Walnut at Whitehall, Siikewsbuky. — At 4 feet, 



