father in a journey into East Florida, to explore the natural productions of that country; after which he settled on the river St. John's, in that region, and finally returned, about the year 1771, to his father's residence. In 1773, at the request of Dr. Fothergill of London, he embarked for Charleston, to examine the natural productions of the Floridas and the western parts of Carolina and Georgia, chiefly in the vegetable kingdom. In this employment he was engaged nearly five years, and made numerous contributions to the natural history of the country through which he travelled. His collections and drawings were forwarded to Dr. Fothergill; and about the year 1790 Bartram published an account of his travels and discoveries in one volume 8vo, with an account of the manners and customs of the Creeks, Cherokees, and Choctaws. This work soon acquired extensive popularity, and is still frequently consulted. After his return from his travels, he devoted himself to science, and, in 1782, was elected professor of botany in the university of Pennsylvania, which post he declined in consequence of the state of his health. In 1786 he was elected a member of the American Philosophical Society, and was a member of several other learned societies in Europe and America. We are indebted to him for the knowledge of many curious and beautiful plants peculiar to North America, and for the most complete and correct table of American ornithology, before the work of Wilson, who was assisted by him in the commencement of his American Ornithology. He wrote an article on the natural history of a plant a few minutes before his death, which happened suddenly, by the rupture of a blood-vessel in the lungs, July 22. 1823, in the 85th year of his age. (Ibid.) In Scotland, as we have seen (p. 48.), very little was done in the way of introducing foreign trees and shrubs, during the seventeenth century; though the rudiments of this description of improvement were laid about the end of it, by the establishment of the Edinburgh Botanic Garden. In Nicolson's Scottish Historical Library, published in 1702, this garden is stated to have been brought to the highest degree of perfection by its curator, Mr. James Sutherland, "whose extraordinary skill and industry" are said to have greatly advanced this department of natural history in Scotland. In Sibbald's Scotia Illustrata, published in 1684, the Edinburgh Botanic Garden is said to contain an arboretum, in which was every kind of tree and shrub, as well barren as fruit-bearing, the whole disposed in fair order" (p. 66.); and in Sibbald's Memoria Balfouriana, published in 1699, this garden is said to be " the greatest ornament of the city of Edinburgh." (p. 73.) The plants of this garden have been twice removed to other situations (first in 1767, and again in 1822), and we believe there is now neither a tree nor a shrub on the original site. Notwithstanding the example shown by the arboretum in the Botanic Garden, however, the planting of foreign trees and shrubs still appears to have been but little practised in Scotland. A public garden, to contain fruit trees, it appears, was projected for Edinburgh so early as 1662. Maitland informs us that the town council of Edinburgh, "by their act of 15th of March, 1662 (Coun. Rep., vol. xxi. f. 99.), demised to John Thomsone, gardener, for a term of nineteen years, the plot of ground at present called Parliament Close, with the brae or side of the hill, inclosed with a stonern wall;" and that "the said Thomsone was to plant a hedge as the eastern boundary. This spot of ground, according to the tenour of the tack, or lease, was to be laid out in walks, and to be planted with trees, herbs, and flowers, exclusive of cabbage, and other common garden stuff. Pursuant to the above agreement, Thomsone, on the 8th of April following, delivered to the council a plan for beautifying the inclosure, which was approved of." Two walks were to be made, a larger and a less one, from east to west; and "their western end, opposite to the Parliament House, was ordered to be planted with plum and cherry trees; and to be bordered with gooseberry, currant, and rose bushes; and flowers to be set along the southern wall or wooden rail at the head of the brae, or brow of the hill; and, at the eastern end, as aforesaid, a hedge." (Maitland's Hist. of Edin., p. 186.) It seems, however, from a subsequent passage, that the plan for this garden was never carried into execution, and that the eastern boundary of the Parliament Close was let soon after for building small shops. Reid, in his Scots Gardener, published in 1683, mentions very few trees and shrubs. The most rare of these are, the evergreen oak, the cypress, and the arbutus. He says there are the Indian and Spanish jasmines, myrtles, oleanders, and orange trees, which some are at great pains in governing; but he adds, "for my part I would rather be in the woods, parks, &c., measuring, planting, and improving." (p. 112.) Those who are curious in trees and other plants, he refers to the catalogue of the "learned and most ingenious Mr. James Sutherland, Physic Gardener at Edinburgh." (p. 114.) It appears by an Essay on Enclosing, Planting, &c., in Scotland, published in Edinburgh in 1729, that there was "but a very little stock of trees, either barren, fruit, or hedging quicksets. One who encloses," continues the author, "must get his quicksets from England or Holland, or, he must sow Devonshire or French whin seed." (p. 289.) It is fortunate for the historian of tree culture in Scotland, that such a writer existed before him as the late Dr. Walker, professor of natural history in the university of Edinburgh. This excellent man, whose garden we have seen in our younger days, at Collington, near Edinburgh, was ardently attached to the study of organised nature from his youth; and, as he mentions in a letter to Lord Kaims, published in Tytler's life of that eminent man, more particularly to plants. Wherever Dr. Walker went, he seems to have paid peculiar attention to trees and plantations; and there are few works which contain sounder information on the subject than his Economical History of the Hebrides and Highlands of Scotland, published in 1812, nine years after the author's death, which happened in 1803. The facts, as to trees, given in this history, were collected, Dr. Walker informs us, between the years 1760 and 1786; and, as will appear from the following extracts, they are of very great interest. "The first trees planted by art in Scotland," says Dr. Walker, "were those of foreign growth, and especially the fruit-bearing trees. Long before the Reformation, various orchard fruits, brought probably from France, were cultivated in the gardens of the religious houses in Scotland. Some of these fruit trees, planted, perhaps, but a little before the Reformation, still remain. A few exotic barren trees were likewise propagated, such as the elder and the sycamore, and, at a later date, the beech and the chestnut; but none of our native trees were planted, such as the fir [pine], oak, ash, elm, and birch, till about the beginning of the last century. The first exotic tree of the barren kind planted in Scotland seems to have been the elder. Though a slow-growing and long-lived tree, many generations of it have succeeded each other in that country. Elder trees of a large size and very ancient date still appear; not only about old castles, but about the most considerable and oldest farm-houses. It was very generally planted, and for a very useful and peculiar purpose, the wood of the elder being accounted, in old times, preferable to every other sort for the making of arrows. plane [sycamore, Acer Pseudo-Plátanus], in point of antiquity, appears to be the next. When it was first introduced is uncertain; but it seems not only to have been planted, but to have been propagated by seeds and suckers, for several generations before any other forest tree was introduced into Scotland. The wood of this tree, in old times, must have been of great value in the hands of the turner; and for that purpose chiefly it seems to have been cultivated. It is better adapted for the wooden bowls, dishes, platters, and other domestic utensils which were universally in use, than the wood of any native tree in the country. These, however, the elder and the sycamore, appear to have been the only two barren trees planted in Scotland, till towards the middle of the seventeenth century." The Perhaps the oldest sycamore in Scotland, and which appears to be at the same time the largest tree of the kind in Britain, is that at Kippenross, in Perthshire. In 1823, it measured 28 ft. 9 in. in circumference, at a foot from the ground. It appears, from a statement made by the Earl of Mar to Mr. Monteith, that this tree went by the name of "the big tree in Kippenross" in the time of Charles II. (Monteith's Forester's Guide, 2d edit. p. 394.) In the grounds of Callendar House, near Falkirk, there are sycamores and other trees of great size, which must have been planted at the commencement of the 18th century, if not in the latter part of the 17th century. Dr. Graham states, on authority which he considers almost approaching to a certainty, that these trees were planted by the Earl of Linlithgow and Callendar, who had accompanied Charles II. in his exile, upon his return from the Continent, after the Restoration. The dimensions of these remarkable trees are given in the appendix to the General Report of Scotland, vol. iv. p. 482. We are not aware of any elder trees in Scotland of any great size or indicating great age. The tree is so completely naturalised there, more especially about houses and places where cultivation has long existed, that, if it were not for Dr. Walker's statement, we should never have supposed it to be otherwise than an indigenous tree. The sweet chestnut and the beech, producing seeds easily portable from other countries, were in all probability introduced into Scotland by the Romans, and, perhaps, reintroduced by the religious establishments in the middle ages. According to Dr. Walker," a few chestnuts and beeches were first planted in gardens not long before the middle of the seventeenth century, some of which have remained till our own times. Such was the chestnut at Finhaven ; another at Levenside in Dumbartonshire, which was thrown down by the hurricane in 1739; and two or three, which were alive and vigorous, at Kinfauns in Perthshire, in the year 1761. Such was the great beech at Taymouth, overturned by a storm some years ago; the beech at Oxenford; that at Newbattle in Mid Lothian; and another at Ormiston Hall in East Lothian." The two last-named beech trees, we conclude, from Sir Thos. Dick Lauder's notes respecting them in his edition of Gilpin's Forest Scenery, vol. i. p. 266., are decayed; and we believe that the largest beech trees now existing in Scotland are at Ardkinglass in Argyllshire, and one mentioned by Mr. Sang (Planter's Calendar, 2d edit. p. 52.) as growing at Panmure in Forfarshire. The latter is 26 ft. 6 in. in circumference, at the surface of the ground; and the former as large, with a longer stem and a finer head. (Gilpin, &c., p. 267.) One of the largest sweet chestnuts in Scotland is at Cairn Salloch in Dumfriesshire; at 2 ft. from the surface of the ground it measures 26 ft. in girt; and it is divided into four large arms, 26 ft., 35 ft., 31 ft., and 28 ft. in length. There is a very old tree at Riccarton, near Edinburgh, which has been described and figured by Sir Thomas Dick Lauder. The trunk is much injured and decayed; but its boughs and foliage are of luxuriant growth; the branches hang down to the ground, and, in many places, have rooted into it. The trunk is 27 ft. in girt at the surface of the ground, and the branches cover an area of 77 ft. in diameter. (Ibid., p. 268.) Dr. Walker mentions (p. 213.) some sweet chestnuts which he found, about 1760, in a thriving condition in the Island of Inchmahona, in the Lake of Menteith, in Perthshire, where there was a priory founded by King David I. Dr. Patrick Graham measured some of these trees in 1813, and found the trunks to be 18 ft. in circumference at 6 ft. from the ground. (General Report of Scotland, vol. ii. p. 254.) He thinks they were then 300 years old, or upwards, which would carry the date of their planting back to the commencement of the sixteenth century. According to Dr. Walker, as before quoted (p. 34.), the sweet chestnut at Finhaven was both the largest tree of the kind in Scotland, and the first tree planted there by art. "In the year 1760, a great part of the trunk of this remarkable tree, and some of its branches, remained. The measures of this tree were taken before two justices of the peace, in the year 1744. By an attested copy of this measurement, it appeared, at that time, that at half a foot above the ground, it was 42 ft. 8 in. in circumference. As this chestnut appears, from its dimensions, to have been planted about 500 years ago, it may be presumed to be the oldest planted tree that is extant, or that we have any account of, in Scotland." (Walker's Essays, p. 29.) Sir Thomas Dick Lauder states, that, "in the possession of Skene of Carriston, there is a table made of the wood of this tree, having an engraved plate, on which are marked its dimensions. The castle of Finhaven was an ancient seat of the Earls of Crawford." (Lauder's Gilpin, vol. i. p. 269.) To the research of Dr. Walker we are indebted for the following list of trees in Scotland, with the name of the places where they were introduced: 1664. Tilia europæ'a, lime. 1678. Salix álba, white willow. Taymouth. 1682. Abies Picea and excélsa, silver and pitch fir. Inverary. Acer, maple. 1690. Juglans règia, walnut. 1692. Carpinus Bétulus, hornbeam. 1695. Cérasus lusitánica, the Portugal laurel. (Gard. Mag., vol. ii. p. 178.) 1696. Pópulus nigra, black poplar. 1705. Cytisus alpinus, alpine laburnum. Inverary. Kinross. Drumlanerig. Inverary. Hamilton. Panmure. New Posso. 1709. E'sculus Hippocastanum, horsechestnut. |