Scottish Arhoricultiiral Notices. 399 



organs for similar purposes ; which I consider a reasonable in- 

 ference, till it has been either confirmed or disproved by future 

 observations and experiments. 



Art. III. Scottish Arboricultural Notices. By Mr. Gorrie. 



I HAVE to thank you for your ready insertion of " Scottish 

 Arboricultural Notices," from Mr. Bishop, Mr. Densard, and 

 myself, which appeared in Vol. XI. p. 175. Since then I have 

 received several communications on the same subject, from dif- 

 ferent quarters, and have made some farther observations myself, 

 the substance of which I now transmit. 



Having been lately at Lawers, the seat of Lord Balgray, about 

 six miles to the west of Crieff, I was agreeably surprised to find 

 so many fine specimens of old and young forest trees, of which, 

 as far as I know, little public notice has hitherto been taken. 

 The soil appears, generally, to be what is termed a light sharp 

 loam, chiefly on a rocky or a gravelly subsoil. The house ap- 

 pears to have been built some two hundred years since, and has 

 of late received some additions. It stands on a gently sloping 

 bank, with a double avenue of very lofty trees of various sorts, 

 extending from each end of the house about a mile southward, 

 towards the river Earn. The background rises rapidly, and 

 irregularly, to a considerable height, and is covered with a dense 

 mass of thriving forest trees of different ages, amongst the most 

 interesting of which, as appeared to me, is the red, smooth-barked, 

 and horizontal-bi'anching variety of Scotch pine, a variety de- 

 scribed by the late Mr. George Don of Forfar, in the Caledonian 

 Horticidtural Memoirs^ as attaining to greater age and size than 

 the variety with chopped rough bark usually cultivated. Many 

 of these elegant and ornamental-looking trees, on the face of the 

 hill to the north of the house, measure from 3 ft. to 4 ft. in dia- 

 meter, with stems as straight as arrows, reaching about 60 ft. 

 before forming a broad bonnet-like top. A row of the same sort 

 of Scotch pine had been planted on the outsides of the avenues 

 to the south of the house : many of these have been cut down ; 

 but a number still remain, on the ample tops of which the heron 

 securely builds her nest. From the want of shelter in belts or 

 avenues, the Scotch pine here does not show the same length of 

 bole, the branches generally spreading out at from 12 ft. to 18 ft. 

 from the ground. I girted three of these trees, and found them 

 14 ft., 13 ft. 8 in., and 12 ft. in circumference. The tops are 

 lofty, and beautifully picturesque ; but have been prevented from 

 acquiring their natural form by the proximity of other trees : one, 

 under these unfavourable circumstances, covers a diameter of 

 57 ft. with its branches. On cutting up this variety of pine, it is 



