538 The Trees of Great Britain and Ireland 



I measured three from 70 to 80 feet with a girth of 6^ to 8^ feet, one being covered 

 with dense tufts of twigs, a kind of witches' broom, caused by Exoascus Carpini. 



In Scotland the hornbeam is less common than in the south, but grows to a 

 large size in the warmer districts ; though, as it is not mentioned either by Hunter, 

 or in the Remarkable Trees of Scotland, it is evidently looked on as a rare tree in the 

 north. Walker' speaks of one formerly growing at Bargally, which was 70 feet 

 high, with a clear trunk of 20 feet. 



The finest I have seen is a tree at Gordon Castle, perhaps the one mentioned 

 by Loudon as being then 54 feet high ; in 1904, it was 68 feet by 8 feet (Plate 152). 

 At Murthly, in the lower park near the Tay, there is an old tree measuring, in 1906, 

 65 feet by 9 feet 8 inches ; and Henry measured one at Scone of the same dimensions. 



Mr. J. Renwick sends me particulars of a very remarkable hornbeam at Douglas 

 Support, in Lanarkshire, which, in 1900, measured 78 feet by 8 feet i inch, with a 

 bole of 1 7 feet long, and a spread of 60 feet, the branches having long pendulous 

 twigs, which form a screen all roimd the tree and hang nearly to the ground.** 



Another remarkable tree is at Eglinton Castle, Ayrshire, which separates into 

 three stems near the ground, and measures at the narrowest point below the fork 14 

 feet in girth ; its three stems girth 5 feet 9 inches, 5 feet 6 inches, and 4 feet 1 1 

 inches respectively. Mr. Renwick sends me particulars of other fine hornbeams as 

 follows : at Househill, Renfrewshire, 10 feet girth, 72 feet spread ; at Tulliechewan 

 Castle, Dumbartonshire, 60 feet by 8 feet 3 inches ; at Gargunnock House, 

 Stirlingshire, 8 feet 1 1 inches girth, 83 feet spread. 



The hornbeam is rarely planted in Ireland. The largest tree, which Henry has 

 seen, is growing beside the Killarney Lake, at Mahony's Point. It measured, in 1904, 

 15 feet 8 inches in girth, at 18 inches above the ground, giving off six great stems, 

 the three largest of which were 8 feet 4 inches, 7 feet 7 inches, and 6 feet 3 inches 

 in girth. This tree is about 70 feet in height, and the diameter of its spread is 

 80 feet. It is in perfect health and bears fruit regularly. 



At Adare, Co. Limerick, in 1903, Henry saw a fine tree, which measured 

 53 feet by 8 feet 8 inches, the spread of branches being 65 feet. At Glenstal, in the 

 same county, there is a tree of exactly the same dimensions, as regards height and 

 girth. At Kilrudderry, Co. Wicklow, a tree, which had been blown down, measured 

 8 feet 9 inches in girth ; and here there is a very fine hornbeam hedge, about 1 5 feet 

 in height. 



Timber 



The wood of the hornbeam is the hardest, heaviest, and toughest of our 

 native woods, but though extremely strong, is not flexible ; and as it is seldom found 

 large enough and clean enough to cut into planks, it is little used in England 

 except for fuel, for which it is one of the best woods known, burning slowly with a 



' Essays, p. ^i,Jide Loudon. 



' I am informed by Mr. Douglas that the peculiarity of this tree consists in the long drooping twigs, which are 20 to 30 

 feet in length, and hang like small cords to the ground on all sides, concealing the trunk, whilst the upper branches do not 

 droop at all. He thinks that this is due to its being a grafted tree. A photograph, which he is good enough to promise me, 

 will be given in a later volume. 



