Airthrie Castle. 593 



brings us to this demesne, which skirts the base of the Gram- 

 pians, and rises high up their sides, and is remarkable for its 

 extensive woods, and the rich prospect of the vale of the Forth, 

 from the house and from the drives and walks in the grounds. 

 There is a large well arranged and very productive kitchen- 

 garden, and throughout the woods there are numerous large 

 Portugal and common laurels, yews, hollies, and deciduous 

 cypress. Among the trees there are many wild cherries, the 

 leaves of which in the autumn become as red as blood; and this 

 is also frequently the case with the birch on this estate. At our 

 request Mr. Duncanson, the gardener here, gave us the follow- 

 ing dimensions: various larches, fifty years planted, girting 

 from 13 ft. to 14 ft., with clean straight trunks; Scotch pines, 

 with trunks 3 ft. in diameter, and 75 ft. in length to the first 

 branch ; cedars of Lebanon 4 ft. in diameter, with 22 ft. of a 

 clear trunk, and wide-spreading conical heads ; silver firs 

 3 ft. 6 in. in diameter, and 100 ft. high, feathered with branches 

 to the ground; oaks 5 ft. and 6 ft. in diameter, with erect trunks 

 and majestic spreading heads; sweet chestnuts 5ft. and 6 ft. in 

 diameter, with clear trunks of 30 ft. and widely spreading heads ; 

 a walnut 13 ft. in circumference, with 15 ft. of a clear trunk, 

 and a wide-spreading open head, containing some very large 

 boughs, a splendid tree, and considered by Mr. Monteath, the 

 author of the Forester's Guide, to be the largest in the country; 

 numerous specimens of hemlock spruce 30 ft. high ; and a 

 number of pinasters, and some stone pines. 



August 8. — Stirling to Airthrie Castle, Deanstcn, and Blair- 

 Drummond. The weather was unfavourable, but, notwithstand- 

 ing, we were delighted with the day's excursion, which displayed 

 to us a great variety of scenery, wood, water, rocks, hills, moun- 

 tains, cottages, mansions, and manufactories. 



Airthrie Castle, Lord Abercrombie, is a noble place, from 

 its woods backed by the Grampians, the beautiful varied park, 

 with a large artificial lake, the house judiciously placed, and the 

 kitchen-garden perfect, as regards culture and neatness, and the 

 abundance and fine quality of the fruit. We regret we are 

 unable to give the dimensions of some of the fine old trees, 

 particularly the beeches, ashes, oaks, and sycamores, skirting 

 the base of the hill which forms the north boundary of the park. 

 What we were most struck with was the excellence of every 

 thing pertaining to the kitchen-garden, even to the gardener's 

 house, which was not only well situated with reference to the 

 kitchen-garden, and placed in an airy healthy situation, but had 

 a proper water-closet within the house, a circumstance of rare 

 occurrence in Scotland, even in the houses of the wealthy 

 farmers. In most kitchen-gardens that we visited in Scotland 

 this year, we found very little fruit on the walls, but here, there 



3d Ser.— 1842. XII. q q 



