44 ON THE OLD AND REMARKABLE 



indirectly afi'ord many practical hints, as well as present inevit- 

 able conclusions as to the suitability of certain species to certain 

 soils, sites, &c., in relation to longevity, the inquiry would also 

 undoubtedly prove of value to the antiquarian and historical 

 observer, by enabling him sometimes to identify in different 

 localities, by certain individual trees, the spot which tradition or 

 legend points out as marking the scene of events in the dim vista 

 of the past, connected with the national history of the country ; 

 and consequently the connection of such events, — almost how 

 forgotten they may be, — with certain known localities at the 

 present day, though their features may have become so changed 

 physically, through the progress and development of the country 

 around, as to render such old associations unrecognisable without 

 the aid of such old living landmarks. In this way a halo of 

 interest and romance may be preserved or thrown around a 

 district which its own prosaic and practical features of the 

 present day tend only to forget and obliterate. 



Nor is the subject of recording the old and remarkable trees of 

 the country a novel or original one. From time to time, and 

 many years ago, attempts have been made by ardent tree-lovers 

 to note such noble specimens falling within their own immediate 

 observation, as appeared to them to be worthy of record. So 

 long ago as between the years 1764-84, that worthy and quaint 

 old student of nature, Dr Walker, Professor of Natural History in 

 the University of Edinburgh, had collected, and published in 1808 

 a "Catalogue of Remarkable Trees in Scotland;" but, considering 

 the difficulty and expense of travelling, and the scant means at 

 hand for obtaining information at that time, it is not surprising 

 that his catalogue is rather meagre, considering the long course of 

 personal observation it had involved, — namely, above 40 years. 

 Statistics were also collected by schedules distributed over the 

 length and breadth of the country about the year 1860 or 1861, 

 by the Council of the Eoyal Horticultural Society of England ; 

 but these do not appear, hj any frequency of reference to their 

 details, to form any standard of reference for the present day, if 

 indeed they ever appeared in any separate and available form 

 apart from the Society's own archives ; — a point upon which we 

 have no information. A further, and probably the most exhaus- 

 tive contribution to this interesting chapter of tree knowledge, 

 appeared under the ausj^ices of the Highland and Agricultural 

 Society of Scotland in 1864 (?), the data having been variously 

 collected between 1861 and that year. This volume was care- 

 fully compiled and edited from the mass of crude matter handed 

 to him by the Society, by Mr William Thomson, late of Dalkeith 

 Park, now of Clovenfords Vineyards, near Galashiels, and was 

 published along with the Transactions of the Society in parts ; but 

 while, as a whole, this catalogue is the best which has yet appeared, 



