Report of Meetings for 1880, by James Hardy. 233 



properties, only occasionally a bullock or two being fattened in 

 a season. Tbe steading of Greenknowe occupies a flat, and tbe 

 cottages are apt to be water-logged. Tbe walkers picked up 

 Galeopsis versicolor in tbe first oat-field entered ; and at the pond 

 nearest tbe steading, Callitriche hamulata was observed with 

 leaves abnormally developed, by immersion. Glyceria fluitans 

 covered tbe upper pond almost entirely. 



Coming out to tbe open, tbe appearance of the land is a sort 

 of central flat, diversified with rolling ridges, and detached 

 Tcaims. It now looked its best, in a variety of tints of green, the 

 small patches of heath that remain untilled being now of small 

 account. The soil is reddish with a considerable proportion of 

 clay in it ; the well-rounded gravel on the haims consists of grey- 

 wacke, basalt, red sandstone, and an indurated reddish white 

 variety of the same rock, such as might be produced by heat. 

 . The fences are built of basalt and greywacke. The worst soil is 

 on the flats, being a tenacious clay, while the free fertile soil is 

 towards the heights. Where very light the weeds in the corn 

 are "runches" [Raphanus Raphanistrum), and not wild mustard 

 {Sinapis arvensis). The river Eden flows down a boggy-hollow, 

 and has upwards the sloping base of the Knock Hill, that shows 

 old cultivated ridges, but is now specked with heath, juniper, 

 and furze. The ground is cultivated and more flat on the eastern 

 side. Higher up is Corsbie Bog, in which the white masses of 

 cotton grass were conspicuous amidst the dark moss hags. The 

 Eden where crossed has a lenient flow. It contains trout, but is 

 overfished. There is a want of dog-roses by the wayside, but 

 near Skinlaws Toll, Mr Brotherston cut a branch of the rare 

 Rosa micrantha, for which, hitherto, there have been only two 

 Scottish localities. In going to Bassindean, those who were in 

 the conveyance, passed the dean, where, above an ancient bridge 

 now disused, are the remains of sandstone quarries, that may 

 have communicated the name of Bakstanedean (the dean where 

 bake -stones were procured), to the original Saxon settlement 

 here. 



While the walking party were examining the old church of 

 Bassendean, a mean post-reformation structure on an old founda- 

 tion, the others called at the farm-house, and were shown before 

 the front door, a great sandstone slab, closely resembling others 

 in Gordon churchyard derived from Greenlaw quarry. This 



