THE ANNUAL EXCURSION. 77 



seeing the gardens, the village and the old castle. King James' 

 Tower and the dungeons, and the paintings in the old village 

 school, were among the interesting things seen. A very fine 

 avenue of Cupressns Laivsoniana was noted, just inside the gates 

 at Ford village. 



The return journey to Kelso was made by way of the 

 Bowmont Water and Kirk Yetholm. At the latter place a 

 short halt was permitted to make a closer acquaintance with 

 the ancient home of the Border gipsies. 



On Thursday, the 29th June, the party bade farewell to Kelso 

 and took a westerly course to Fairnington, the property of Mr 

 H. Rutherfurd, an old and much esteemed member of the 

 Society. A slight alteration was made in the programme, in 

 order that a Scots pine wood on a neighbouring estate (Ruther- 

 ford) might be seen. No official figures were given, but probably 

 over 250 trees stood on the acre, and these were of remarkably 

 fine growth, with clean boles of a high form-factor and free of 

 branches up to 50 feet. Probably nothing finer was seen during 

 the whole tour. At Fairnington, where Mr Rutherfurd met the 

 party, the chief item of interest was the Whinny plantation, 

 where some of the largest Scots pine timber trees in the Border 

 district were seen. They are about 125 years old, and for a 

 poor soil showed a remarkably straight growth of clean, smooth 

 boles. The timber is of superior quality, and a number of the 

 individual stems girthed up to 6 ft. 10 ins. at 5 feet from ground. 

 There was evidence of a considerable number of trees having 

 been cut out at one time or another, and now between 70 and 80 

 remain to the acre. 



Ancrum House was the next place of call, and here some very 

 fine trees of great age were seen. A number of very old limes, 

 near the house, were looked at, one giant girthing no less than 

 27 ft. 2 -ins. at 5 feet from ground, with a stem of about 12 feet in 

 length. Other very old specimens of ash, elm, beech, larch, holly, 

 walnut, etc., were seen during the walk through the grounds. As 

 early as 1632, Sir Robert Kerr, a former proprietor, took a great 

 interest in planting, and some of the now remaining specimens 

 are supposed to have been planted in his time. Refreshments 

 were kindly provided by Miss Scott, the proprietrix, before 

 leaving. 



A halt was next made at Monteviot, the property of the 

 Marquess of Lothian, where a young larch wood, near the 



