Mr. Charles Stuart's Botanical Notes. 71 



In Mr. Craster's reply to various questions in the memor- 

 andum is the following : — "In regai'd to covering the Cottages, 

 wd advise Turf and rushes instead of Thatch, provided it " 

 (be) " well done, the weight not being any consideration, yr 

 Lordship having wood sufficient (and as straw is very scarce in 

 the North), nor do they understand thatching so well as in the 

 South." 



In an answer to a query about the state of the mansion, it 

 is shortly stated that " The Old Hall is too ruinous to be 

 examined." This answer may probably have been given not 

 long after the fire, when some of the walls which had been 

 shaken by it had not ceased to crumble down or shew symp- 

 toms of falling. 



Botanical Notes on Central Berwickshire. By Charles 



Stuart, M.D., Chirnside. 

 Being desirous of seeing the Linnsea borealis, that most 

 interesting of Northern plants, when in flower, in its Berwick- 

 shire habitat, I took the rail to Gordon station on the morning 

 of the 2nd July ; walked across the moors to the farm of 

 Lightfbld, and pushed on to a Scotch fir wood, which 

 appeared to be the station indicated in the Natural History 

 of the Eastern Borders. I had no idea as to the exact spot 

 where it is said to grow, and consequently had to find it out 

 for myself after a hot walk of four hours. I was on the point 

 of giving up my search when I fortunately walked into the 

 middle of a very extensive patch of it, having passed and 

 repassed the locality more than once. 



While searching for the Linnsea I came upon several 

 specimens of that somewhat rare Orchid, the Goodyera repens, 

 and, as far as I know, this station is a new one in the county 

 for this plant. 



The Linnsea was in full flower, and the ground was 

 carpetted with its elegant prostrate trailing stems for a space of 

 eighty paces in circumference. This is undoubtedly the 

 sweetest and loveliest of our native flowers, and is esteemed 

 alike for its beauty and its rarity. The whole plant is so 

 level with the ground, and so curiously trailing among the 

 moss, that it may easily be overlooked notwithstanding its 

 profusion. The leaves are in pairs and opposite ; and the 

 peduncles are axillary, long, and erect ; and the flowers in 

 pairs. The corolla is pinkish, tinged with yellow inside, 



