SCOTTISH GAEDENS 



and Wishaw, enter the park gate, and you have 

 not passed far beneath an avenue of limes before 

 you have exchanged an atmosphere pulsating with 

 industry and pungent with its waste products into 

 one vibrating with the song of birds and redolent 

 of hawthorn and lilac. On the way to the flower 

 garden you pass some fine trees notably, an im- 

 mense oak close to the castle. It separates into 

 several great branches at ten feet above the ground, 

 and is not remarkable for height ; but it contains 

 an enormous bulk of solid timber, the bole at its 

 narrowest part measuring twenty-four feet in girth. 

 It is a deceptive tree in one respect. At first sight 

 I judged it to be of the sessile-flowered variety, which 

 is the prevailing native form in the western districts 

 of Scotland ; and this impression was confirmed by 

 the fact that the leaves were set on foot-stalks. 

 But closer inspection showed that the flowers were 

 also on long foot-stalks, that the leaves had " auricles " 

 or little rounded flaps at the base, and that they 

 were perfectly smooth on the back, without the 

 pubescence which the sessile oak invariably has in 

 greater or less quantity. This tree, therefore, belongs 

 undoubtedly to the pedunculate race. 



The flower garden is set on the terraces on the 

 south side of the house, and very charming it is, 

 with a happy combination of formality and freedom. 

 Miss Wilson has chosen her subject on the upper 

 terrace, when the Dutch borders, deeply bordered 

 with box, were aglow with begonias. I followed her 



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