1858.] BOTANICAL NOTES, NOTICES, AND QUERIES. 477 



The letters cut in the gTcen or growing wood formed a rigid elevation, 

 owing to the direction of the sap towards the cut parts, which hardened 

 like a stone. As the tree enlarged annually, so did the letters. Like the 

 club of Hercules, these Runic clubs were used in war, and were doubtless 

 veiy elFective implements. 



It has been recorded that the "Rowan-tree is usual near Druidical monu- 

 ments or ancient temples ; also that it is the common tree in the church- 

 yards of Wales, as the Yew is in those of England. These statements 

 probably stand in need of confirmation. It is certain that the use of the 

 wood was believed to have the power of averting fascination, the evil 

 eye, and wicked spirits (see Evelyn's ' Silva,' xvi. Quickbeam). No wizard 

 nor witch could stop a plough if there was a bit of the wood of this tree 

 either in tbe plough or in the graith of the cattle. A pettle-]\sin.A\e, of 

 this wood was common in every plough. The cattle were driven to pas- 

 ture with rowan-tree rods, which were laid up over the door of the byre 

 or sheal-bothy. It was held in repute as a walking-stick ; and some laid 

 up the boughs in their bed-chambers. Zeta. 



Ballochbowie Eorest. 



(From Gardiner's ' Botanical Rambles in Braemar.') 



-'-Seated on a bank oi-Calluna vulc/aris and Vaccinium Vitis-idcea, I 

 gazed in rapture at the lofty Pines that rose around me, with their unen- 

 cumbered stems shooting up straight as arrows to the height of sixty, 

 eighty, or ninety feet, crowned with dark, embowering branches, 

 through which the now awakened breeze roared like the waves of the 

 troubled ocean, and the sun at times darted his scorching beams to light 

 up the pure drooping blossoms of Fyrola media and other wood-loving 

 flowers that enamelled the rich flooring of these magnificent forest sanc- 

 tuaries." 



This is rather a long sentence, but it is intelligible and graphic. It 

 evinces the writer's appreciation of Nature's beauties. 



" I had wandered through many a wood ere now, and pried into many 

 a sylvan nook. I had seen isolated trees of gigantic growth not a few ; 

 but never before had my eyes beheld such a noble assembly of mighty trees, 

 nor my ear listened to such sublime strains of forest music." 



Botany or Braemau. 



" In ascending Ben x\von by a steep watercourse where the stream 

 forms a series of little waterfalls all the way, the rocks about are beauti- 

 fully adorned with flowers, and I collected many good things, particularly 

 Jlieracium J^iajihanumH^Wa^i ,\^^^^ H. alpiuwm, H. Schmidtii, H. 



iMicsoni, etc., Cochlearia grcenlandica, Ep'dohium alsinifol'mm, Botrycliium 

 Lunaria, and upon the sloping face of a moist rock ! Cornus smcica, in 

 vei-y fine condition." — Botanical Rambles in Braemar. 



(See ' Phytologist,' vol. ii. p. 309.) Ranunculus Flammula : exceed- 

 ingly common in all the ditches, and by the margins of the lakes. This 

 seems to be the only representative of the Ranunculus in Braemar. Daisies 

 do not appear in this list. 



