1772

ARBORETUM AND FRUTICETUM.

PART III.

stone, Esq., we are enabled to give the dimensions of this tree, as taken in No-vember, 1836. Height, 49 ft.; circumference of the trunk, 16 ft. ; diameter ofthe head, 68 ft. “ This tree stands in a wood of oaks, in which the Castle ofLochwood (the original residence of the Johnstone family) is situated. It isquite vigorous; but most of the other trees are in a state of decay. There arethe remains of larger oaks, the diameter of the trunk of one of which is 6 ft.;but little of its head remains.” An oak at Barjarg, in Nithsdale, in 1796, mea-sured 17 ft. in circumference. In the year 1762, Lord Barjarg was informedby some very old people, that, about 90 years previous to that date, the treehad been bored, with a view to ascertain if it were sound, which it was; andfrom the margin of the hole bored some branches proceeded, one of whichwas then (1762) a considerable bough. {Walker’s Essays, p. 6.) The BlindOak of Keir, on the estate of W. H. Hunter, Esq., is mentioned in the titledeeds of the estate, about 200 years ago. In 1810, it measured 17 ft. 2 in. incircumference, at 4 ft. 6 in. from the ground.

Inverness-shire. In a very old oak wood on the north of Loch Arkeg, inLochaber, Dr. Walker mentions a tree which measured 24ft. Gin. in circum-ference at 4 ft. from the ground. In the same county, Sir Thomas DickLauder found the remains of a “ magnificent oak forest, not, as is commonlythe case, embedded in peat earth, but lying on the surface of the solid ground,as trees would do that had been newly thrown down. Many years must haveelapsed since these trees were laid prostrate; for there is now a very old andbeautiful birch wood growing on the ground they formerly occupied. Wemeasured one of these trunks, and found it to be 23 ft. long, without a branch;16 ft. round the but end ; and 11 ft. in circumference towards the smaller end,under the fork. With the exception of an inch or two of the external part,which was weather-wasted, it appeared perfectly fresh. It lay within a yardof the root on which it grew; but it was not easy to determine, from appear-ances, how it was severed from it. The stump remaining in the ground wasworn away in the centre, and hollowed out; so that it now encircles a largebirch tree of more than 1 ft. in diameter, self-sown, and growing vigorously,within the ancient shell of the oak.” ( Lauder’s Gilpin, i. p. 253.)

Renfrewshire. The Wallace Oak. {Jig. 1621.) AtEllerslie, the native village of the hero Wallace,there is still standing “ the large oak tree,” amongwhose branches it is said that he and 300 of his -y^men hid themselves from the English. Its cir-cuinference at the base is 21ft.; and at 15 ft.,

13 ft. 2 in.; its height is 67 ft.; and the expanse ofits boughs is, e. 45 ft., tv. 36 ft., s. 30 ft., N. 25 ft.;thus spreading over an extent of 19 English, or15 Scotch, poles. This oak, we are informed byAlexander Spiers, Esq., the proprietor of Ellerslie,is still in the same state as when Strutt’s drawingwas made, of which ours is a reduced copy. Ac-cording to another legend, Wallace hid himselfamong the boughs of this oak when his enemies were sacking his house atEllerslie. ( See Miss Porter’s Scottish Chiefs, &c.)

Roxburghshire. Near Jedburgh, on the estate of the Marquess of Lothian,stands a remarkable oak, called the King of the Woods. “ It is now (January19. 1837) 16 ft. 6in. in circumference, at 1 ft. from the ground ; its whole heightis 73 ft. ; the height of the trunk, before it forms branches, is 43 ft.; and it is asstraight as, and something of the form of, a wax candle. It is, perhaps, thefinest piece of oak timber in Scotland; and its beauty has probably saved itfrom the axe, for it, and its neighbour, the Capon Tree, seem to be a centuryolder than any of the other old trees in the county. The Capon Tree is alsoan oak; but it possesses quite a different character from that of the King of theWoods; the trunk, and every branch of it, being excessively crooked. At onetime, it must have covered an immense space of ground ; but, from being long