REPORT OF MEETINGS FOR 1902 251 



Then we reached the house of Dalwick,* standing in its 

 park near the bank of Tweed, at the foot of steep tree- 

 clad slopes on its east and south sides. A short account 

 of the history of Dalwick (or " Dawyck ") will be found, 

 given by Dr Hardy, in the Club's Transactions for 1886, 

 page 382. The following brief note may be added here. 



Dalwick House. 

 A modern castellated mansion on N.E. corner of Drummelzier 

 Park; held by the Veitches from the 13th to the close of 

 the 17th century. The estate then passed to the lawyer, 

 James Naesmyth (died 1706), who was known as the Deil 

 o' Dawick. His grandson and namesake, the 2nd baronet 

 (succeeded 1770, died 1779), was Linnseus's pupil, who 

 planted, in 1735, the Dawick avenue of silver firs and larch 

 (1725.) On a knoll a short distance S.W. of the house stands 

 the old church of Dalwick parish, suppressed 1742, which 

 now serves as a family mausoleum. 



The Naturalists — after lunch within the house, and an 

 expression of thanks to Mrs Balfour, conveyed by Mr 

 Craig Brown on their behalf — spent a pleasant hour roaming 

 through the woods, with some guidance at times from the 

 Dalwick gardener. He told us that the larches we saw, 

 grand and venerable, were the oldest planted in Scotland, 

 with the exception, possibly, of some of the Duke of Athol's. 

 Linnsous was present, about the year 1735, when some of the 

 conifers were planted. They were brought from Russia by 

 the Naesmyth of that day, who was a friend of Linnsous, 

 and had travelled with him in Scandinavian and other 

 continental forests. We saw on the lawn beside the house 

 a very well-grown oak, very large to be so far north, measuring 

 15| feet round the trunk. A little further ofiF was a beech 

 tree with an unusual " upright habit," trying as it were to 

 imitate a poplar or a cj'^press in shape ; and a similar unique 

 growth of British oak was noticed close to Dalwick church. 



* The name is varioasly spelt Dawick, Dawyck, and Dalwick. The 

 last is the correct spelling, though the name is pronounced as a 

 rhyme to Hawick. 



