REPORT OF MEETINGS FOR 1903 41 



The route lay through the Arboretum, which was beautifully 



laid out with a splendid variety of rare and 

 Dalkeith vigorous shrubs and trees, among which special 



Gardens. note was made of the Willow-leaved Holly 



(Ilex angustifolia), the Japanese Umbrella Pine 

 ( Sciadopitys verticillata), and the Weeping Wellingtonia 

 ( Wellingtonia yigantea pendida). Passing on over the soft 

 arid well-kept greensward, the members were conducted to 

 the flower-beds of the terrace and gardens, which, despite the 

 late and unfavourable season, were blooming in rare profusion. 

 Specially noteworthy was the display of East Lothian, stocks 

 and asters, leading up to and surrounding the sun-dial in the 

 kitchen-garden, such a wealth of colour being seldom seen 

 so late in the season. In the greenhouses dwarf Oelosia in 

 two varieties, Red (coccinea) and Yellow (aurea), appeared to 

 great advantage against a background of Geraniums, Fuchsias, 

 etc. ; while in the stove-house a plant of the Bread-fruit 

 or Banana (Musa Cavendishi), which produces only one crop 

 of fruit, and ripens it when fifteen months old, attracted 

 special attention on account of the heavy cluster of fruit 

 it had provided for the Club's inspection. 



Much time might have been profitably spent in examining 



the treasures of these well-stocked houses and 

 Dalkeith gardens, but, as the day was advancing, and 



Palace. much remained to be overtaken, a start was 



made for the Ducal residence along a shaded 

 bank which led over the Montagu Bridge, erected at the close 

 of the eighteenth century by Duke Henry, and from which 

 an extensive view of the valley of the N. Esk can be obtained. 

 The Palace is a symmetrical, classic structure, crowning a 

 steep rocky knoll above the right bank of the river, and was 

 built to the order of the Duchess of Monmouth in 1642, 

 under the direction of Sir John Yanbrugh, the architect of 

 Castle Howard in Yorkshire, and of Blenheim House. The 

 Loo, a royal hunting-lodge in the Netherlands, beloved of 

 William of Orange, is said to have been the model on which 

 it was constructed. Its general appearance is that of a heavy- 

 looking Grecian pile of reddish stone, with recessed centre 

 and projecting wings, in the left one of which is now placed 

 the entrance door. Special interest attaches to the building 



