1884.J RECENT PLANT INTRODUCTIONS. 17 



RECENT PLANT INTRODUCTIONS. 



A PAPER EEAD TO THE SCOTTISH HORTICULTURAL ASSOCIATION BY 

 ROBERT LINDSAY, CURATOR OF THE ROYAL BOTANIC GARDEN, 

 EDINBURGH. 



NOW- A- DAYS new-plant collecting has become a profession, the 

 members of which are found in large numbers scattered over 

 the greater portion of the globe, diligently pursuing their calling, 

 often nndergoing great privation and hardships, in all cases at great 

 cost to their employers, and too often at the cost of their own 

 valuable lives. Formerly collectors were sent out to foreign 

 countries by societies. Now, however, many of the enterprising 

 nurserymen in England and the Continent are the chief importers 

 of new plants, each employing several collectors entirely at their 

 own expense. Thus it is, that whatever class of plants are in 

 demand at home, these will form the bulk of those supplied from 

 abroad. Just now, orchids form the great proportion of novelties 

 in obedience to the law of supply and demand. At the Forestry 

 Exhibition, the Messrs. Veitcli show what, to me, is one of the 

 greatest treats in the Exhibition, viz. a collection of type specimens 

 of various trees and shrubs sent home by their collectors Lobb, 

 Pearce, Maries, and others ; and these are full of interest, as being the 

 first specimens of their kind seen in this country, and it may be 

 safely said they have cost much more than their weight in gold. 

 Were horticulture in a languishing state, the great expense connected 

 with the introduction of new plants would prevent their appear- 

 ance amongst us. But we have here proof to the contrary. The 

 hybridizer, in turn, in many cases is enabled to break these up 

 into innumerable new forms and blends, wherein the angularities 

 which delight and satisfy the botanist may become rounded off and 

 eventually culminate in the unbroken circular outline — the key- 

 stone of the florist's formula and the goal of his aspirations. 



TWO SCOTTISH COLLECTORS DOUGLAS AND FORTUNE. 



Before taking up the suliject proper of this paper, I should like 

 to say a word regarding the labours of two of the most eminent 

 of plant collectors, viz. David Douglas and Piobert Fortune, of 

 whom as Scotchmen we have much reason to be proud. 



In 1823, David Douglas was sent out to the United States to 

 collect plants, by the Horticultural Society of London. Having 

 procured many novelties, he returned in the autumn of the same 



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