34 REPORTS OF MEETINGS FOR 1909 



to the grounds of T)n.imghame, the Scottish seat of the Club's 

 venerable member, the Earl of Haddington, the party was 

 joined by Mr C. C. Tunnard, estate agent, who with manifest 

 pleasure accompanied them throughout the day's proceedings. 

 The gardens claimed their first attention. Over the porch of the 

 gardener's cottage a fine bush of Polygonum baldschuanicum, 

 regarding whose eccentricity in flowering much has lately been 

 written, confirmed for once the glowing desciiptions of florists' 

 catalogues, its long axillary racemes of creamy white flowers 

 drooping gracefully from its slender stems. A gateway, bearing 

 the date 1666, which had been removed from what was the 

 entrance to the Manse of Tyninghame, and built into the wall 

 of the garden, was canopied with Clematis vitalba. Proceeding 

 along an apple Pergola, more noteworthy for the display of 

 skilful pruning than the abundance of fruit, the party reached the 

 flower-garden, in which were noted spacious borders of interesting 

 herbaceous plants and a cleverly designed 1 6th century pattern in 

 Box, which among other curiosities included Mandrake (Man- 

 dragora officinalis) in fruit, and Burning Bush (Dictamnus 

 fraxinella). Much time might have been profitably spent in the 

 company of Mr Brotherston, the head gardener ; but in view of the 

 length of the official programme, a bee-line was adopted through 

 the bowling-green, two centuries old, towards the mansion-house, 

 a Scottish Baronial building of red sandstone, round which were 

 to be seen many noteworthy forest trees, among them being two 

 noble Beeches, one whose limbs branched at about 12 feet from 

 the ground, presenting a clean bole 1 3 feet 4 inches in girth at i^ 

 feet, and another, bifurcated and held together with an iron cable, 

 girthing 16 feet 6 inches at the same level. The third largest 

 specimen in Britain of the Japanese Umbrella Pine ( Sciadopitys 

 verticillata), and a shapely Oak, commemorative of the visit in 

 October 1902 of King Edward Yll. to the Earl of Haddington 

 from North Berwick, formed pleasing objects in the pleasure- 

 grounds. A Manna or Flowering Ash (Fraxinus ornus), 

 a native of Southern Europe, seemed thoroughly at home in 

 the shelter of the garden wall. In directing their steps towards 

 the coast, members were permitted to inspect the remains of 

 the ancient Parish Church situated in the park to the South- 

 West. 



