332 A EAMBLE ROUND YETHOLM 



Time did not permit of a complete perambulation of its 

 boundaries, but a cursory examination sufficed to assure a 

 profitable excursion in its vicinity to any keen field-naturalist. 

 The Mansion-house lay to the North of the Loch, and could 

 not be passed by, if only to acknowledge the trespass that 

 had been committed ; but Mr Somervail's generosity not only 

 forgave the intrusion, but fortified the inner man, and supplied 

 the while what was most needful, a fresh rig for the nether 

 extremities. Replenished and instructed, I retraced my steps 

 about four o'clock, and choosing a cross-country road, which 

 skirted the lands of Hoselaw and Old Graden, ascended the 

 cultivated hillside to the North of Cherry trees, the home of 

 the late Mr John B. Boyd, long a diligent member of our 

 Club, and always an enthusiastic florist. In the shrubbery 

 near his picturesquely situated Mansion, there grows an 

 exceptionally fine example of the Weeping Holly, while in 

 the low ground to the South, at one time embracing upwards 

 of one hundred acres of moss, but in more recent times 

 thoroughly drained by the construction of that formidable 

 obstacle to cross-country riders — The Stank, are many hand- 

 some specimens of hard-wood. Half-an-hour's walk from 

 here brought me by the Mindrum and Cornhill road to 

 Yetholm, after a thoroughly interesting, if somewhat lonely, 

 excursion, which might be easily undertaken by anyone not 

 wholly given over to the worship of the wheel. 



