58 Anniversary Address. 



house ; but the Hangingshaw of last century is described as 

 having been the finest mansion in the south of Scotland, full of 

 costly furniture and valuable curiosities. It did not occupy the 

 site of the present house, and was accidentally burned to the 

 ground between 1764 and 1779, — the exact date I have been un- 

 able to ascertain. Hangingshaw was the ancestral seat of the 

 Murrays of Philiphaugh, their possession of the property dating 

 almost from the period when it ceased to be, like the other lands 

 in the " Forest," in the immediate possession of the King. The 

 property passed by purchase into the hands of the father of the 

 present owner, James Johnstone, Esq., of Alva, Stirlingshire. 

 The avenue leading to the house is of great length, and presents 

 some of the finest trees in the district, two rows of lofty beeches 

 being especially worthy of notice. Across the Yarrow, right 

 opposite Hangingshaw, Newark Hill, which is embraced within 

 the Bowhill policies, falls with an abrupt descent into the valley. 

 The portion of the Hill facing the Yarrow is known as Black- 

 andro', and is densely clothed with fine trees, Oak, Scotch Fir, 

 Beech, Birch, Larch, &c. The steep slope behind Hangingshaw, 

 covered with Oaks, answers to Blackandro' ; and this part of the 

 vale of Yarrow is not unworthy to be compared with the narrow 

 valleys and pine clad heights of the Black Forest in south-western 

 G-ermany. 



In the course of our drive localities were pointed out where sev- 

 eral rare plants are found. On the haugh by the Ettrick about two 

 miles above Selkirk a Hieracium was picked up during an excur- 

 sion of Professor Balfour's class in June, 1868. It was figured 

 and described by the Professor under the name of H. collinum in 

 the Trans, of the Ed. Bot. Soc. vol. x., part i., p. 17. The rough 

 ground where it grew has now, been brought under the plough, 

 and the plant has disappeared. Scolopendrium vulgare has also 

 ceased to be a plant of the district, the few tufts which grew on 

 Selkirk Bridge having been destroyed in the process of widening 

 the bridge. Lathrma squamaria grows plentifully under an old 

 Ash at Foulshiels, and among Poplars at the lower end of How- 

 den haugh. Chrysosplenium alternifoUum, very uncommon in the 

 district, is found on the steep banks of the Yarrow below Broad- 

 meadows Lodge. Campanula latifoUa, Carduus heterophyllus, 

 Circcsa Lutetiana, Adoxa moscliatellina, Scilla nutans, Melica uniflora, 

 &c., are abundant by the Yarrow along " the Duchess' Walk/' 

 Trientalis Europma grows freely on " Nathan's Knowe," a spot 



