386 TRANSACTIONS AND PROCEEDINGS OF THE [Sess. lix. 



kind among Mr. Paxton's subjects, " The Boss Tree " at 

 Galston, a Wych elm, of which merely the hollow stump 

 remains. Mr. Paxton has not girthed it, but gives an old 

 measurement at the base of 27 feet, taken about the be- 

 ginning of the century. The photograph shows a stump 

 about 10 feet high, and of tolerably uniform size from top 

 to bottom. It has much the appearance of having been 

 pollarded. Probably the largest Wych elm in a vigorous 

 condition in the county now is at Loudoun Castle. It 

 girthed 15 ft. 2 in. at 5 ft. in 1879 (Landsborough). 



The English elm {Uliiius campestris), that stately species 

 so conspicuous in Gloucester, Somerset, Wilts, an.d other 

 south-western English counties, is rare in Scotland, where 

 it has nowhere attained any remarkable size. Indeed, as 

 far as I know, the two largest are in Mr. Paxton's list, and 

 their girth is only 1 2 ft. 7 in. and 11 ft. 9 in. The largest 

 of the two, moreover, at Eglinton Castle, has evidently seen 

 its best days. The smaller one, with a tall cylindrical 

 stem, at Sorn, seems still vigorous. 



Some of the other larger forest species have fine repre- 

 sentatives in the county. The lime at Kirkmichael House, 

 the Spanish chestnut at Cloncaird Castle, and the beech at 

 Stair House, all girth between 18 and 19 feet, fairly 

 measured at 5 feet from the ground, and are apparently 

 healthy, growing trees. A magnificent, tall and spreading 

 beech at Eglinton Castle, 17 ft. 3 in. in girth, and a lime 

 at Montgreenan, not measurable from a dense growth of 

 twigs at the foot of the stem, follow not far behind these 

 giants. 



But the remaining larger forest species are poorly repre- 

 sented, as far as size goes. The handsome Hunterston ash, 

 16 ft. 1 in. in girth, 5 feet up, gives promise, indeed, of 

 climbing in no long time into the foremost rank, and an 

 ash at Lanfine, 15 ft. 10 in. in girth at 5 feet, in 1879 

 (Landsborough), ought by this time to have surpassed the 

 Hunterston tree. But if Mr. Paxton's Cloncaird Castle 

 horse chestnut {jEscuUls Hippoca sternum), Cassilis House 

 sycamore {Acer Pscuclo-platanus), Coodham willow (Salix 

 alba), and Old Auchan's oak (Quercics Bohur), are indeed 

 the largest of their kind in the county, it will be long 

 before Ayrshire can have the chance of showing giant 



