SYCAMORES IN SCOTLAND. 151 



We have no })laiite(l oak, asli, elm, or fir, of so old a date (a1>ont 

 1500), as the country was then full of natural woods com[)osed 

 of tht)se trees, and very little demand for them." 



Sir Thomas Dick Lauder, who considered the sycamore to be 

 an indi.t^'enous tree, notices the ])redilection for planting,' it in 

 St'otland, when he says it is " a favourite tree," and " if the doubt 

 of its being a native of Britain be true, which we cannot, how- 

 ever, believe, then it is ])robable that the long intimacy which 

 subsisted between France and Scotland may be the cause of its 

 being so ])revalent in the latter country." With this cause of 

 the origin for the sycamore being so extensively planted in 

 Scotland we are fully inclined to agree, and an additional colla- 

 teral reason for this assumption is found in the many individual 

 S]»ecimens of the sycamore which tradition ]ioints to as having 

 been i)lanted by the liapless ]\Iary (^)ueen of Scots, and which to 

 this day are called " Queen Mary's Trees." Several of these, 

 still extant, will be found noticed in the tables appended to this 

 re])ort, and they occur at places where the unfortunate Queen 

 either resided when in Scotland on her return from France, or 

 around the scenes of her dreary imprisonments. Many other 

 fine old relics of these troublous times are still to be found Ijy 

 ]>ordcr keep and feudal tower, flourishing in vigour by the 

 crumliling ruined fortalicc, or in the spot wliere the baronial 

 garden had once existed, while several of the largest and most 

 noble specimens still linger, and in some instances continue to 

 maintain a green old age, by the ruined monastery and cloister 

 wall, l^lanted in such sites, evidently with care, and for some 

 special reason — it might be on account of its rarity at the time, 

 or for its hospitable shady foliage — there seems little room for 

 doubt that the sycamore was first introduced from the Continent 

 al)out the time we have indicated ; and for the earliest exam])les 

 still surviving we must look to such localities as we have described 

 and recortled, in the tabulated appendix to this report. 



Another reason for the general diffusion of this tree, after its 

 introduction over tlie various counties and districts of Scotland, 

 is to be found in the peculiar capacity which its twiggy habits of 

 young wood and growth presents, of withstanding with impunity 

 the severe blasts of wind which are so prevalent in many parts 

 of Scotland, and also its singular suitability for resisting the sea 

 In-eeze in insular or sea coast localities. Numerous instances of 

 its successful introduction and growth in such situations are 

 recorded in the appendix. Indeed, no better examples could be 

 found than those of the many specimens we have noticed from 

 the sea coast of East Lothian and Berwickshire, where large and 

 handsome trees may be seen situated quite within the influence 

 of the sea breezes and easterly gales that sweep across th'^ North 

 Sea, and yet (juite unaffected eitlier in vigour or in contour by 



