26 Report of Meetings for 1885. By Jas. Hardy. 



of the Blessed Margaret the Virgin, in the town steeple, &c. 

 These were very much admired. The Club were much indebted 

 to the local members for their trouble in making the arrange- 

 ments which proved so successful on this occasion." 



SUPPLEMENT. 



Mr Simson invited me out to Oxnam Bow that I might 

 familiarise myself with the appearance of tie district, and see a 

 little more of it than could be accomplished in a single journey. 

 While with him I followed out the design of visiting the Roman 

 Camp, and encircling the high ground traversed by a section of 

 Watling Street, and examining what objects of interest there 

 were within reach. I had the pleasure of Mr Simson as guide. 

 On the 28th we drove as far as the Club had gone to Swineside 

 Hall, and then took up new ground. It was remarked that when 

 the right of cutting turf had been exercised on some of the high 

 ground now under cultivation, the soil had been quite spoiled 

 for bearing crops. The subsoil, which is a barren glacial till 

 derived from the frittering away of the porphyrites, had by this 

 operation been exposed, and no subsequent weathering will 

 ameliorate it. The minister of Oxnam exercised this right on 

 three farms here belonging to the Marquis of Lothian. 



The hill-sides above Swineside Hall are distinctly terraced, 

 partly with baulks of old cultivation, partly it may be with 

 water margins of a gradually subsiding lake. "We passed on to 

 where the Oxnam runs along a low marshy flat, said to be sheep- 

 rotting ground ; producing a rough pasture of which black bent 

 and Bull's faces formed the main constituents. The sheep are a 

 small breed. There are here deep sections of gravel and sand 

 on the unstable banks of the Oxnam. As we turned round we 

 came within sight of Middle-knowes, an unthriven looking, 

 weather-beaten place. Middle-knowes was once a chapelry. 

 Mr Thomson tells me that to the east of this place there are 

 " fine specimens of the old lazybed," system of culture. We had 

 seen no birds hitherto, but here the Pied "Wagtail and a pair of 

 Black-headed Buntings frequented the marshy ground. Up the 

 opening we could discern the brightening green of Plenderleith, 

 Biccalton, and Browndeanlaws, and the little fir clumps on the 

 flattish moors behind, which materially enliven the prospect to 

 one crossing the many wearisome hills from Northumberland. 



