Midsummer to Michaelmas 
June 30.' — The Sycamores are looking so pretty with 
their bunches of red keys ! They are sometimes called 
Plane-trees, and tradition declares Mary Queen of Scots 
first introduced them into Scotland. In the grounds of 
Holyrood, I believe, the two Planes may still be seen which 
she planted on her return from France, called “ Queen 
Mary’s trees.” She is said nearly always to have planted a 
tree whenever she stayed in a strange place. In the village 
of Little France, close by Craigmillar Castle, an old 
Sycamore, said to have been planted by her, used to be 
shown to visitors. In the West of Scotland, Sycamores 
are sometimes called Dule-trees. Dule means “ sorrow.” 
Dule-weeds are the garments of mourning, probably from 
the French deuil, mourning] and the trees seem to have 
acquired this name because they were often used as a 
gibbet by the lord of the castle. I believe there is a 
notable specimen of a Dule- tree still to be seen near 
Cassilis Castle, on the River Doon, called the Dule-tree of 
the Kennedys. On the Border, if the Sycamore is found 
wild, it is generally a sign that formerly there must have 
been a house or village in that place, since it is said to have 
been the first foreign tree introduced, and consequently 
generally planted by some noble’s house. 
I wonder if Shakespeare’s song about the poor soul who 
sat sighing ’neath a Sycamore-tree meant that any of her 
kin had been hung upon it ? Border barons behaved in 
much the same way on either side of the Border. In 
Wilson’s “ Tales of the Border ” there is a delightful story 
of a Border Laird who took his neighbour prisoner and 
offered him the choice between wedding his ugly daughter, 
Muckle-mouthed Meg, or hanging from the Dule-tree. 
The Syringa is in full bloom everywhere ; the air is heavy 
with the scent ; there are masses of Roses also. How I love 
Roses ! I quite agree with Sappho, who so many long years 
ago called the Rose the Queen of Flowers. And yet it is 
the flower above all of the poor. Hardly a patched 
tumble-down cottage but has its gallant climber with droop- 
ing heavy heads, and a poor hedger may be seen at the 
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