Mar. 1SP5.] BOTANICAL SOCIETY OF EDINBURGH. 389 



As to the probable age of these premier trees, it is question- 

 able if any of them, with the exception of the Boss elm and 

 the Loudoun Castle yew, exceed much, if at all, two centuries. 

 It may seem startling to limit the age of such giants as the 

 lime, horse chestnut, and beech in the table to a couple of 

 centuries, but there is no reason to assign a greater age to 

 them, as my general observations tend greatly to prove 

 that large trees have been unusually quick growers. More- 

 over, I have shown that the great beech at Newbattle 

 Abbey, the largest in Scotland, is probably not above 

 250 years old. 



But the age of a huge decaying stump, such as that of the 

 Boss elm, may very well be much greater, as some large 

 trees seem to take nearly as long to decay as to arrive at 

 maturity. As the yew is undoubtedly a comparatively slow 

 grower, a prodigious age is often attributed to such large 

 specimens as the one at Loudoun Castle, and legend often 

 associates them with events of a very remote antiquity. 

 It is rarely, however, that these legends can stand the test 

 of a strict examination. Thus it is said that one of the 

 family charters was signed beneath the shade of the 

 Loudoun Castle yew in the reign of William the Lion, 

 nearly 700 years ago, but there can hardly be a doubt 

 that the tree did not exist till at least two centuries later. 

 Measurements taken by Mr.Landsborough in 1 8 64 and 1894, 

 show that the tree during that period was still increasing 

 in girth at the annual rate of a third of an inch. Xow, 

 even if no greater rate had been maintained for its whole 

 life, the age w'ould only be 510 years. But it is well 

 ascertained that the rate of yews, like that of other trees, 

 is much greater in early life than subsequently. There are 

 several well ascertained instances of a rate exceeding three- 

 quarters of an inch annually for more than the first hundred 

 years; and I found the rate of a yew in the Edinburgh 

 Botanic Garden, 6 feet in girtli, to be very nearly half an 

 inch for the last fifteen years. Taking this rate for the 

 Loudoun yew till it was 6 feet in girth, and its own 

 present rate of one-third of an inch as the subsequent rate, 

 the age would be reduced to 438 years. But as the 

 Botanic Garden tree cannot be compared with the other 

 for apparent vigour and favourable circumstances, four 



