JOUBNAIi OF HORTICIXTUEE AND COTTAGE GAEDEXEE. 



[ Jannory 18, 1872 



ceivcd it nearly tweuty years since from my old frieutl autl 

 pupil, M. Jaraiu, of Paris, but not lildug it I discontinued its 

 cultivation. The tree is here still, and I must say differs widely 

 from the true Esperiue in its shoots. About ten years since 

 I received another tree from France under the same name. 

 The shoots of this and its fniit are identical with the Pear 

 name d by you the Edgar-ley Seedling. M. .Jamin evident'y 

 sent me the wrong sort ; he still has it in his catalogue as a 

 second-rate Pear. M. A. Leroy figures it, and describes it and 

 its shoots with great accuracy, making it of first quality. Its 

 shoots — and I place much value on their evidence — correspond 

 exactly with M. A. Leroy's description. Us lenlicelles (freckles), 

 are large and very plain, so that its shoots may at once be 

 distinguished from any other kind. Such are the shoots on my 

 tree, and on those of trees received from Mr. Porch. I should 

 add that Mr. Porch saw this Pear, or what he supposed to be 

 the same, on some old French trees in Mr. Young's nursery 

 at Taunton. There is, therefore, no doubt but that the Ed- 

 garley Pear is French, and the true Espeiiue. The Benedic- 

 tine may at once he distmguished by attention to its shoots of 

 one year old. Mine (veiy young and small), I confess have 

 not the freckled character. As to the size of the Edgarley Pear, 

 Leroy says of Esperine, " It is above the middle size, and 

 sometimes larger." With regard to the outUnes of Pears, they 

 often vary so much. See numerous instances in the Dic- 

 tionnau-e, and more particularly in page 280, in Henriette 

 Bouvier, two figures, one of which has a long stalk, and the 

 other a short stout one, one round and the other " turbinee 

 obtuse," so that no one would think them to be the same. 



If there is any doubt as to the Benedictine Pear, it maj" 

 easily be solved. The present tree cannot be very old. An 

 honest good judge like Mr. Cramb could at once tell us if it 

 is a seedHug or not, and thus put the question at rest. Let 

 it, therefore, be done. — T. Eivees. 



[The fog thickens. We have received a handbUl issued by 

 Mr. Sampson, of Yeo^-il, in which he states that the Benedic- 

 tine Pear " was raised from a cross between Huyshe's Prince 

 of AVales and A'an Mons Leon Leclerc, by WiUiam LoveU, 

 Esq., of Glastonbm-y." Now, this settles the question at once 

 as to its not being identical with the Edgarley Pear. Huyshe's 

 Prince of Wales was not distributed till 1859, and Vim Mons 

 Leon Leclerc was not known in this country till 1844, and we 

 leave others to say if a seedHug raised from these newly- 

 introduced varieties, could in 1865 have produced a tree of 

 which the oldest inhabitant of Edgarley could not remember 

 the age. We ought to state that on reference to Mr. Eivers's 

 manusei'ipt we find that Esperione is a misprint. — Ens.] 



A SOJOURN IN THE HIGHLANDS OF SCOTLAND. 



We have long had a desire to visit the Highlands of Scot- 

 land. So much has been said and written about Ben Lawers 

 that there are few botanists who have not had a desire to see 

 that fine mountain. All the British botanists of note, and 

 even some Continental ones, have paid their respects to Ben 

 Lawers. 



The early part of September is a favourable time for making 

 a botanical trip, the heat of summer has somewhat moderated, 

 and the days are sufficiently long to afford time for a mountam 

 ascent, and enough work can be done to tire much younger 

 persons than ourselves. The beginning of last September was 

 somewhat showeiy and unfavourable for excursionists, but 

 became more settled about the 6th and 7th of the month, and 

 there were satisfactory indications of a spell of fine weather. 

 This being so, and other cu'cumstances favourable, Mr. T. 

 Mitchell and myself determined to visit the Highlands, making 

 for KUlin, the very heart of them, as head-quarters iu the first 

 instance. 



After arriving at KOlin on the third day out we travellers, 

 after breakfast, went out with the view to ascending Craig 

 Curich, the nearest mountain, something over 3000 feet, and 

 a fine feature in the landscape. As the weather seemed some- 

 what doubtful, we consulted certain of the natives who were 

 hanging about. The men said it woijd be fine ; but a fat 

 damsel said we would not get to the Craig, as it was going to 

 be wet. Wishing it to be fine, we heeded not the fat lady's 

 predictions, and pushed on. For about a mile the road was 

 level, but then it began to rise up a woody steep, partly follow- 

 ing the course of a small stream. Here we saw many fine trees, 

 chiefly coniferous ones, and passing through immense quanti- 

 ties of Brackens, with the Sweet-scented Mountain Fern (Las- 



trea montana) everywhere plentiful, up and up we went to the 

 height of lUOU feet. Here we left the woods and Bracken, and 

 entered upon a large tract of Heather, miles iu extent. The 

 margins of the stream began to show alpine vegetation, the 

 Cloudberry (Eubus Chama;morus), and the yellow Mountain 

 Saxifrage (Saxifraga iroides), behig abundant, and succeeded 

 by the Alpine Lady's Mantle, AlchemiUa alpina, and Oxyria 

 reniforme. The opposite-leaved Saxifrage (Saxifi'aga oppositi- 

 foha) , the Alpine Meadow Eue (Thalictrum al))inum), and the 

 rare Tofieldia palustris also presently came to view. After 

 much toO we reached at the base of the cliffs the " talus," 

 which consists of immense quantities of material that has 

 fallen from the cliffs above. These eUffs are nearly perpen- 

 dicular for 800 or 1000 feet, but can nevertheless be traversed 

 and explored at certain points here and there. Before we had 

 fairly anived at the foot of the cliffs the clouds came drifting 

 down upon us, and the wind roared among the rocks above 

 like the sound of innumerable railway trains moving about and 

 around us all at once. The rain began to come down, and we 

 were compelled to take shelter under a projecting rock. At 

 times the clouds iu which we were enveloped were so thick as 

 to make it almost dark, and " The wind blew as 'twould have 

 blown its last," roaring and howling most fearfullj-. Now 

 and then the rain abated somewhat, and iu these iuteiTals we 

 sallied out, and managed to get some thii-ty to forty good 

 plants of the rare Holly Fei-n (Polystichum Lonchitis). For 

 nearlj' three hour's were we confined in this den on the moun- 

 tain ; after which the wind subsided, the clouds rose like a 

 curtain, and the rain ceased. Evening was, however, drawing 

 on, it was growing dusky, and as the descent the mountam in 

 the dark, with no roads, would have been more difficult and 

 dangerous than its ascent, we hastily quitted our den, waded 

 through the dreary tract of bog and Heather, and reached our 

 quarters before it was absolutely dark, not much worse for our 

 journey, with the exception of a thorough soaking of the legs 

 and feet. 



On the fourth day we rose in good time. The morning was 

 fine, and there was every appeajrance of settled weather. We 

 breakfasted, and then started for Malgurdie or Mealgurdic, a 

 lofty mountain about 3400 feet in height, six or seven miles to 

 the north-west of Killin. We had leamt from some of the 

 KUlinites that tins mountain was an excellent one for plant- 

 hunting, and was seldom visited, as most people contented 

 themselves with Ben Lawers. We passed up the valley of the 

 Lochay, and after proceeding about four mUes up the valley 

 we came to the falls of that name. Here the valley contracts, 

 and the waters of the Lochay are precipitated over a series of 

 rocky escarpments of no gi'eat height. The stream at first 

 roars, froths, foams and bubbles, and then silently, sleepily, 

 and sluggishly steals on to Loch Tay. The timber in this 

 part of the valley was very fine, the Larch and Spruce Firs 

 being as straight as needles, and of gi'eat height. 



It was very pleasing to watch the squirrels running up the 

 trunks, then along the branches, and then jumping from tree 

 to tree with then- usual agUity. Soon after leaving the falls 

 Malgurdie came in -view, a fine old fellow, but still far away. 

 It was perfectly appalling to think of climbing up his huge 

 breast and shoulders, and we did not think ourselves equal to 

 the task. But, oh ! those rocky cliffs, which we could indis- 

 tuictly see near the summit, were so tempting that we could 

 not resist. It was in vain to wish for wings, or a balloon, or 

 any other possible or impossible means of ascent. For some 

 tune we vacillated between hope and despau' ; on the one hand 

 there was the mountain of Heather piled up to the sky, ■with a 

 rocky corona, and we somewhat fatigued by our six-miles walk 

 from Killin, and laboming, moreover, under the burden of 

 years, although possessing the spirit, wanted the physical 

 strength and energy of youth. On the other hand, the day 

 was gloriously fine, neither cold nor hot, temperatme about 

 60°, lower than which it should never be if we had the thermal 

 control. Not a breath of air disturbed the .slender Birchen 

 spray, not a cloud streaked the mountain ; it was as it the 

 ruder elements held holiday. Then that cro-wn of rock on the 

 summit was worth a severe struggle to reach — such a concur- 

 rence of circumstances rarely occui's, and, very probably, never 

 would occur to us again. 



If the day had been made for our exclusive benefit it could not 

 have been better devised, and to neglect so good an opportunity 

 would be almost a crime. Accordingly we scanned the moun- 

 tain, narrowly noted the difficulties of the various routes which 

 might be taken, and finally laid down our plan of attack. At 

 this moment a toiuist from Edinburgh, with map in hand. 



