Andrew Heron married twice, and left a family. He, with one of his wives, was buried in a tomb which lies in front of Bargally House. The date inscribed on this tomb is 1729. Andrew's estate devolved, on his death, to his son, Dr. Andrew Heron; but he was involved in a lawsuit with the Kirauchtree family; and though it was decided in his favour, it ended in greatly injuring his fortune. In consequence of this, he sold Bargally to Hannay of Kirkdale, and retired to a cottage, where he died many years ago at a very advanced age." Another correspondent says, "I was born about two miles from Bargally, and recollect to have seen Dr. Heron, the son of the botanist, when I was very young. I communicated with several people who have lived their whole lifetime near Bargally, and are considerably older than I am, but they all replied that they knew nothing more about old Bargally than what I had stated to them. I recollected that the Herons of Heron [the estate of Heron is in Northumberland, see A Genealogical History of the Ancient Family of Heron, imp. 4to, part ii.] of Kirauchtree, and the Herons of Bargally, were originally from the same stock; and, as Lady Heron Maxwell of Springkell is the last of the lineal descendants of the Herons of Kirauchtree, I wrote to Her Ladyship, mentioning that you were engaged on a work that required some information about Andrew Heron of Bargally, and begging that she would tell me what she knew or had heard about him. I received a letter from Her Ladyship yesterday (April 6. 1835), giving me extracts from an old manuscript document in her possession relative to Andrew Heron of Bargally. I enclose a copy, and I hope it will give you all the information you require about that wonderful man. It appears that Andrew Heron was of no profession, simply the Laird of Bargally;' but he must have been a person who had travelled a good deal, to induce him to do so much at that early period.

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"The old orchard and flower-garden at Bargally have been, to my personal knowledge, a grass field for forty years and upwards; but some of the fine variegated hollies, now large trees, still remain to mark the different divisions of the garden. About thirty years ago, when I was walking over the grass field, which was originally the garden at Bargally, in the month of August, I observed peering through the grass some crocus plants, both white and purple; this surprised me, for I had never seen an autumnal crocus. The gentleman to whom the property then belonged, was also astonished, saying that he had never observed them before. I cut up a few of the roots of the different kinds, with a portion of the turf, and carried them to St. Mary's Isle, and from these roots many plants have been propagated. There are still some curious trees and plants to be seen at Bargally, remaining to sound the praises of old Andrew Heron the

botanist. Bargally was sold by the heirs of Andrew Heron to Mr. William Hannay, the brother of Sir Samuel Hannay of Kirkdale; he was scarce of cash, and cut down the wood of Bargally (including many of the fine trees that had been introduced and planted by Andrew Heron), in the year 1791. I purchased a portion of the trunk of a silver fir, and I made it into a meal chest; the side boards, the bottom, the ends, and top, or lid, of which chest are all out of one board. This chest is still in my possession, and in use; and it is in depth and breadth, after having been wrought, 2 ft. 2 in."-W. M.

Extract from an old manuscript in the possession of Lady Heron Maxwell of Springkell, relating to Andrew Heron of Bargally:-" Andrew Heron of Bargally was the second son of Andrew Heron of Heron, who settled the lands of Bargally upon him as his patrimony. In 1690 he went to reside at Bargally; in 1693 he built the great dyke for the garden and orchard; and, the next year, he began to collect and fill in a large number of trees, fruit, and flowers. His father died in 1695. In that year Andrew Heron employed Mr. Hawkins, an Englishman, to build the stone house. The stone was all got out of a quarry on the east side of the garden; it was finished, watertight and in order, in 1696. In 1697 and 1700 he built the pigeon house and the crews [farm offices]. Andrew Heron of Bargally married, secondly, the relict of John M'Kie of Larg, in April, 1708; and, having lived twenty-one years after his second marriage, hath improved the ground to great advantage, having enclosed all the low grounds, and built a new stone house, made large gardens, well stocked with all kinds of fine trees and rare fruits, both stone and core; some portions were stocked with fine flowers, and he had a green-house stocked with oranges, lemons, pomegranates, passion flowers, citron trees, oleanders, myrtles, and many others. The eldest son of Andrew Heron of Bargally was a captain in Lord Monk Kerr's regiment, and married the daughter of Mr. Vining, a rich merchant at Portsmouth. He left several sons and a daughter: John, bound apprentice to his brother in law, Mr. Reid, a considerable merchant; and Andrew, who is bound apprentice to a surgeon at Bath. He hath also Patrick, Charles, and Benjamin; and of daughters, Jane, who married Mr. Reid, to whom her grandfather, Mr. Vining, gave 3500l. in marriage portion, a large fortune at that time."

Lady Heron Maxwell added, from her own knowledge,_the following additional information: "The first Heron of Bargally was the uncle of my great-grandfather, Heron of Heron, who represented the stewartry of Kirkcudbright in parliament at different times; and I am now the last of the direct line of the family of Heron of Heron, and that family held large posses

sions in Galloway, from father to son, for upwards of 500 years. The only remaining known descendant of Heron of Bargally, in the male line, is Captain Basil Heron of the Royal Artillery, now (1835) on duty at Gibraltar; he married a daughter of Judge Mayne, in Ireland, and has three daughters; he is grandson of Dr. Heron, who sold Bargally, and great-grandson of Andrew Heron the botanist. The male heirs of all the branches of the family of Heron of Heron will be extinct on the death of Captain Basil Heron."

Andrew Heron corresponded with Bradley on gardening subjects; and from this correspondence it appears that he had a curious water-clock in his grounds, that he trained his pear trees in a particular manner, and that he cultivated in his fields what he calls the "true Roman cytisus." (See Bradley's Treatise on Husbandry and Gardening, 1726, vol. ii. p. 169.) Mr. Maxwell, writing about the same period to Mr. Hope of Rankeillor, says, "I have of late been with Mr. Heron of Bargally, in whose garden there is a great variety of curiosities to be observed. He is, in my opinion, the most learned and ingenious gentleman, in the article of gardening, I ever conversed with." (Practical Husbandman, p. 179.) "The want of money, that great enemy to old timber," another correspondent informs 66 us, compelled Mr. Hannay, the purchaser of Bargally from Dr. Andrew Heron, who was otherwise a gentleman of fine taste, to cut down a great many of the largest trees, particularly four that grew one at each corner of Heron's tomb."

We visited Bargally in August 24. 1831, and found a number of the trees planted by Andrew Heron still in existence. Having applied to the present proprietor, John Mackie, Esq., for the dimensions of some of these trees, the following is an extract from his letter, dated Bath, March 21. 1835: "I have now received the measurement of some of the old trees at Bargally, which is as follows, viz. the circumference of a beech (usually denominated the large beech), at 18 in. from the ground, is 18 ft., and it is upwards of 90 ft. in height. This tree is in the most perfect health, and when in full foliage is truly magnificent. The circumference of an evergreen oak in the garden, at 14 in. from the ground, is 12 ft. and it is above 60 ft. high this tree is also in a very thriving state, and does not show the least tendency to decay. The circumference of a hop hornbeam (O'strya vulgàris), at 1 ft. from the ground, is 9 ft., and it is above 60 ft. high: this tree is particularly mentioned by Dr. Walker, as having been measured by him in 1780; it was then 4 ft. 1 in. in circumference at 4 feet from the ground, 60 ft. high, and considered the oldest and largest tree of the kind in Scotland. The circumference of a variegated

:

sycamore is 12 ft., and it is upwards of 70 ft. high. The girt of a sweet chestnut, at 18 in. from the ground, is 10 ft. 7 in., and it is above 80 ft. high. Mr. M'Nab, my factor, adds, "Had I measured them at the surface of the ground, they would have been one third more, in consequence of the roots spreading so much as they do.' Mr. Hannay sold the property of Bargally to my father in 1792."

"It is recorded of Mr. Heron, that he went to visit a garden in the neighbourhood of London, and very much astonished the principal gardener, to whom he was a stranger, with the botanical knowledge he displayed; and the gardener having shown him an exotic, which he felt confident Mr. Heron had never seen, he exclaimed, on Mr. Heron's readily naming it, Then, Sir, you must either be the devil or Andrew Heron of Bargally;' thereby intimating that Mr. Heron was proverbial, in those days, as a botanist, even with those who had never seen him."

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Dr. Walker, in his Essays (p. 32.), mentions several firs and pines at Bargally, of large dimensions, which no longer exist. A fir, he says, which was planted in 1697, measured, in 1780, 90 ft. in height. He states that the oldest and largest arbor vitæ in Scotland was at Bargally: it measured, in 1780, 5 ft. 4 in. in girt at 4 ft. from the ground, and was 40 ft. high. He also mentions a flowering ash (O'rnus europaea), which was cut down in 1780, and 7 ft. of the trunk quartered to make four axles to carts; it was a remarkably handsome tree, 6 ft. 3 in. in circumference at 4 ft. from the ground, and 50 ft. high. Dr. Walker mentions large evergreen oaks, horsechestnuts, and many other species, of extraordinary dimensions. The present proprietor is much attached to this beautiful place, takes the greatest care of the trees, and has lately repaired the tomb of their planter.

We took notes ourselves (in 1831) of several remarkable trees at Bargally, including a large lime tree and a number of beautiful variegated hollies from 20 ft. to 26 ft. in height, and with trunks from 15 in. to 2 ft. in diameter. Altogether the place is one of very great interest, not only on account of its venerable foreign trees and the tomb of Heron, but from the romantic beauty of the situation, and from the district in which it lies being one of the finest, in point of scenery, in the west of Scotland.

Dunkeld, where, it appears, the Weymouth Pine was first introduced into Scotland, was, in 1727, the property of James Murray, Duke of Athol; the friend and distant relative of John and Archibald, Dukes of Argyll. Dunkeld is celebrated for having been one of the first places where the larch was planted in Scotland; the plants of which, it is said, were sent from

Sir Thomas Dick Lauder,

London in pots in the year 1741. as we have seen, however, says the larch was first planted in Scotland, at Sir James Nasmyth's, at Dawick, in 1725. The Rev. James Headrick, in his Survey of Forfarshire, gives another account of the introduction of the larch into Scotland. He says, "It is generally supposed that larches were first brought into Scotland by one of the Dukes of Athol; but I saw three larches of extraordinary size and age, in the garden near the mansion house of Lockhart of Lee, on the northern banks of the Clyde, a few miles below Lanark. The stems and branches were so much covered with lichens, that they hardly exhibited any signs of life or vegetation. The account I heard of them was, that they were brought there by the celebrated Lockhart of Lee (who had been ambassador from Cromwell to France), soon after the restoration of Charles II. (about 1660). After Cromwell's death, thinking himself unsafe on account of having served a usurper, he retired some time into the territories of Venice. He there observed the great use the Venetians made of larches in ship-building, in piles for buildings, in the construction of their houses, and for other purposes; and when he returned home he brought a number of larch plants in pots, with a view to try if they could be gradually made to endure the climate of Scotland. He nursed his plants in hot-houses, and in a green-house sheltered from the cold, until they all died, except the three alluded to; these, in desperation, he planted in the warmest and best sheltered part of his garden, where they attained an extraordinary height and girth.' (Headrick's Forfarshire, p. 374.)

The estate of Dunkeld now contains the most extensive plantations of the larch in the island, spreading over several thousand acres. A copious and most valuable account of these plantations will be found in the Transactions of the Highland Society, vol. íx., and an abridgment of that account in our Encyclopædia of Gardening, § 6579. edit. 1835. Dunkeld has long been celebrated for its scenery. Dr. Clarke, the traveller, says, the scene that opens before you, after going through the pass, perhaps has not its parallel in Europe. "The grounds of the Duke of Athol," he continues, "I do not hesitate to pronounce without a rival." Gray, the author of the Elegy, was 66 overcome and almost lost" by the beauties of Dunkeld. Gilpin called it the "portal of the Highlands," and Dr. Macculloch has nearly filled a volume on the subject. The house at Dunkeld is a plain large building, erected in 1685, but it has long been in contemplation to remove it, and to build one of superior architectural pretensions. John Murray, the present Duke of Athol, has lately constructed a magnificent public bridge over the Tay at Dunkeld, government assisting His Grace with one sixth part of the expense. The bridge was constructed on dry land, and