Page:TheTreesOfGreatBritainAndIreland vol03B.djvu/55

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Cedrus
465

stated that it was 5 feet and 1 inch in circumference, but omitted to mention at what height from the ground this measurement was taken. In 1801 the dimensions of these trees, as well as of other kinds planted at the same period, were taken; the observations were repeated in 1820, and I am now enabled to add the present size of those which had been before noticed, as well as some others of different kinds but of the same age, which were not before attended to. The circumference of the trunks is taken in all cases at three feet above the ground, and it will be seen by

comparing the different measures how much the cedars have exceeded all the other trees:—

I visited Hopetoun, the seat of the Marquess of Linlithgow, in April 1904, and found that two of these cedars still survive in good condition, the larger being about 80 feet high and 23 feet 8 inches in girth, the other about 88 feet by 13 feet.

There is a fine cedar at Biel, East Lothian, the seat of Mrs. N. Hamilton Ogilvy, which is said to have been planted in 1707 by Lord Belhaven, to commemorate the Union of England and Scotland. According to Mr. S. Ross[1] it was, in 1883, 75 feet high by 17½ feet in girth; but I am informed by Mr. T. Muir that it is now 85 feet high by 19 feet 9 inches at 1½ feet from the ground, with a spread of 101 feet.

At Moncreiffe House near Perth, the seat of Sir R. Moncreiffe, there is a well-shaped tree, which Hunter[2] mentioned as bearing many cones and measuring 66 feet by 11 feet. In 1907, when I saw it, it was about 80 feet by 144 feet at 3 feet from the ground. At Dupplin Castle, the seat of the Earl of Kinnoull, there are two cedars of which the best shaped measures 86 feet by 16 feet 10 inches, and the other is 18 feet 8 inches in girth at 3 feet. At Murthly there are two good trees, which, though probably not much over seventy years old, measure 74 feet by 9 feet 3 inches and 70 feet by 10 feet 6 inches respectively.

The best I have heard of in the west of Scotland are one at Mount Stuart in Bute, which Mr. Renwick tells me is 64 feet by 8 feet 3 inches, and another at Erskine House, near Renfrew, which is 62 feet by 1o feet at 1½ feet from the ground.

In the N.E. of Scotland it also grows well; there are two very fine trees at Beaufort Castle. According to the measurements given me by Mr. G. Brown the largest of these is 73 feet by 22 feet 8 inches at 3 feet from the ground, dividing at five feet into four large stems, which measure from 9 to 11 feet in girth, The other is the same height and 16 feet in girth, At Brahan Castle there are also some fine cedars.

  1. Woods and Forests, Dec. 26, 1883, p. 59.
  2. Woods, Forests, and Estates of Perthshire, p. 135 (1883).