152 The Scottish Naturalist. 



left no provision for wife or family, she had a hard struggle to 

 bring up and educate the children decently. Out of the large 

 family of fifteen she bore to my grandfather, only six reached 

 adult age, and one of them, the eldest, and the only girl, I think, 

 died soon after her father, and before they left Forfar. Ail the 

 five sons were bred to gardening, and they all came to England 

 and settled in different parts of the country. . . . The two 

 eldest sons, David and George, did not long follow gardening, 

 but having ability, and a great love for botanical science, struck 

 out a higher and more congenial path for themselves. The 

 others were not so fortunate, although they all held good 

 appointments in their calling." 



The garden was let to a famous botanist, Thomas Drummond 

 of Rocky Mountain fame, who was tenant for ten or twelve 

 years. On his leaving, the ground was divided. A part was 

 given as a garden to the occupant of the house. The rest was 

 parcelled out and let as gardens. Soon after this the house 

 was licensed as a public-house, by which time any traces of its 

 former glory had disappeared from the garden. The hillock and 

 all to the west of it, included in the feu, is now enclosed within 

 the grounds belonging to the Caenmore Linen Works, — the 

 manager of which resides in the house, altered and enlarged, in 

 which George Don lived. The lake in which were the aquatic 

 plants and fishes, is filled up and levelled, and covered with grass. 



He lies in Forfar churchyard in a nameless grave. Is this as 

 it should be? The Police Commissioners have given his name 

 to a street — Don Street ; but, by nine out of every ten, it is 

 thought that the name was given in honour of another family, 

 large employers of labour in the town. During his short life 

 he did more than any other individual has ever done in stimu- 

 lating the study of the botany of his native country, especially 

 of the Highlands. Nearly a century had elapsed between the 

 publication of Sibbald's ' Scotia Illustrata' and the time when he 

 began his excursions. During that time little or nothing had 

 been done, in a comprehensive way at least, in the study and 

 exposition of the native plants. He had begun his work of dis- 

 covery thirteen years before the publication of the ' Flora Scotica ' 

 of Lightfoot. His first excursion into the Highlands was made 

 when he was fifteen years of age, and from that time on, during 

 the remaining thirty-four years of his life, his enthusiasm never 

 flagged. He has been the pioneer of all who have since studied 



