SYLVAN GIANTS. 307 



Of Sycamores, there are many records of ab- 

 normal size. Mr. Strutt figured one whicli was 

 at Bishopton, Renfrewsliire. It was twenty feet 

 in girth at the bole. Sir T. D. Lauder mentioned 

 another at Oalder House, in the county of Edin- 

 burgh measuring twenty feet three inches at the 

 ground. It was planted, it was believed, before 

 the Eeformation, and was, it was considered in 

 1834, not less than 300 years old. A Sycamore 

 at Newbottle Abbey measured twenty-four feet 

 four inches at two feet from the ground, and was 

 seventy feet high. One at Cobham Park measured 

 twenty-six feet in circumference at the ground, 

 and was ninety-four feet high ; and the Kippen- 

 ross Sycamore was, in 1801, twenty-eight feet 

 nine inches in girth. Of this famous tree Mr. 

 Hunter says, ' Unfortunately, it is now in ruins, 

 but sufficient remains to attest its former great- 

 ness. The first damage it received was in 1827, 

 when it was struck by lightning, and it never got 

 the better of this injury. The late laird has 

 affixed a brass tablet to the shattered trunk, 

 bearing the following description of the tree 

 before it received its fatal blow : ' Cubic contents 



X 2 



