Castanea 851 



At Castle Menzies in Perthshire there are several very large trees, perhaps 

 over 300 years old, one of which, in the washing-green, is about 20 feet in girth. 

 Another in the park at Murthly, though not remarkable for height, has a trunk 

 about 15 feet high and 19 feet 7 inches in girth, twisting from left to right. At 

 Dupplin Castle, Perthshire, there are some very fine trees in a sheltered dell below 

 the castle. One of these has a short bole no less than 2 1 feet 4 inches in girth ; 

 another is about 70 feet high by 17 feet 9 inches in girth. Many other large 

 chestnuts in this county are recorded by Hunter ; but as a rule they are remarkable 

 rather for their age and girth than for their height, which rarely exceeds 80 feet 

 in Scotland. 



Sir Herbert Maxwell says ' that the tallest recorded in Scotland is at March- 

 mont House, Berwickshire, which in 1878 measured 102 feet by 14^ feet, with a 

 bole of 32 feet; but Sir Archibald Buchan- Hepburn tells us that a tree at Yester 

 House, Haddingtonshire, is 112 feet high by 18 feet 8 inches in girth, according to 

 careful measurements, taken in 1908 by Lord Tweeddale's forester. 



The chestnut at Riccarton, near Edinburgh, which was described and figured in 

 1829 by Monteath, System of Draining, 209, as an old tree remarkable for layering, 

 had two stems in 1905, one 17 feet in girth and the other, very decayed, 12 feet in 

 girth, both giving off branches which had layered and become independent trees. 



From Castle Leod in Ross-shire Mr. Wotherspoon sends me a photograph of a 

 tree, which is probably the largest of the species existing so far north. It is 

 76 feet high and girths 28 feet close to the ground, 21 feet 4 inches at 5 feet, with 

 a bole 14 feet long. 2 



In Ireland the chestnut thrives remarkably well, and, growing fast, might in 

 many places be cultivated for its timber. At Fota the chestnuts in a plantation 

 much exposed to the strong winds from the sea, withstood without injury the severe 

 gale of 1903, when many other species were blown down. 



The most remarkable chestnut in Ireland is the famous tree at Rossanagh, 

 Wicklow, which was planted, according to Colonel Tighe, who has the family records, 

 in 1718 (Plate 236). This tree is of the large spreading type with a short bole which 

 divides into three mighty limbs. The girth of the main stem close to the ground 

 was in 1903 49 feet, at 3 feet up 27^ feet, and at 5 feet 29^ feet. The height of the 

 tree is about 80 feet, the spread of the branches being 100 feet in diameter. The 

 three limbs girth respectively 12 feet 8 inches, 11 feet 2 inches, and 10 feet. 



A very fine tree is growing at Powerscourt which was 84 feet high in 1905, 

 with a good trunk carrying its full girth up to 18 feet and giving off the first branch 

 at 20 feet up. It was 28^ feet in girth at the ground, and 2i\ feet at 5 feet up. 



At Clonbrock, Co. Galway, there is a tree growing on limestone, planted in 

 1801. It was 8 feet 6 inches in girth at 3 feet up in 187 1, and 12 feet 9 inches 

 in 1904. The chestnut grows at Clonbrock, where rhododendrons refuse to grow ; 

 and in the case of the tree just mentioned there is undoubtedly a large proportion 

 of lime in the forest soil on which it stands. At Shannongrove, near Limerick, 



1 Green's Encycl. Agric. i. 373 (1907). 

 * This is probably the same tree which Loudon mentions, p. 2001, as growing at Castle Send [tie] in Cromarty. 



