Notes on Newton Don. By C. B. Balfour. 297 



two branches — one 8 ft. 7 ins. in circumference, and the other 7 ft., 

 was measured by J)r Christison in Sept. 1893, who found it to 

 be 80 ft. in height— 13 ft. ^ in. in girth at the narrowest part of 

 the short stem — one limb 9 ft. 2 in. in girth, the other 7 ft. 4^ 

 ins., 5 feet up — branch spread 70 feet.-** 



To compare the measurements with those of Jeffrey, I found 

 that at the base the tree is now 15 ft. in girth, an"d where the 

 branches divide — one is 9 ft., the other 8 ft. in girth. 



The Fern-leaved Beech and the Yew trees mentioned by 

 Jeffrey are still in existence, as is also the Horse Chestnut tree 

 at the east of the house — -but Jeffrey exaggerates its size. It is 

 not fourteen and a-half feet in girth, but 12 ft. lOi ins. Nor 

 are there any Wych Elms of 15 ft. in girth, as described by 

 Jeffrey, though there are at least four over 13 ft., and three over 

 12 ft. ; but this is not an unusual size for the Wych Elm in 

 Scotland. 



There is a fine group of Silver Firs on the bank below the 

 house — one about 14 ft. in girth ; and there are two Oaks in the 

 Lawn Park — one of which is 14 ft. 9 inches in girth, at a height 

 of 4 feet — the other 13 ft. 3 iuches at the same height, with a 

 bole 10 ft. in height before there is any branch, at much the 

 same girth throughout. 



Dr. Christison makes also special mention in the Transactions^* 

 above quoted of a specimen of the American Quercus Rubra, or 

 Red Oak, in the Lawn Park — 8 ft. 3^ inches in girth at the 

 narrowest part of the bole ; circumference of foliage 220 ft., and 

 longest branch 4 1 f t ; and also of a Lime tree just below the 

 house, which he classes as one of the tallest in Scotland, with a 

 height of 104 feet.^« 



The river Eden, which flows through the policies at Stitchell 

 Linn, falls from a height of 30 feet over a mass of rock into the 

 pool below — which I find is nowhere more than 8 feet 6 inches 

 in depth. The water power derived from this fall drives the 

 turbine which works the dynamo and pumping gear for the 

 house at from 18 to 25 H.P. at all times when running. 



There are few remains of any buildings or other objects of 

 antiquarian interest except the burial place of the Don family, 

 which is probably the site of the chapel of Little Newton : and 



^® Transactions Botanical Society of Edinbnroh, Session lvii, p. 502. 

 2" do. do. p. 505. 



30 do. do. • p. 494. 



MM 



