EARLY TREE-PLANTING IN SCO! LAND. I 3 



point and mark off the modern period. The present review 

 will not extend to that period, but some account of earlier and 

 less known times up to the year 1750 will be given — native, 

 naturalised and exotic trees being taken into consideration. 

 Of the early native woodlands and forests the writer has 

 attempted to treat elsewhere {29), and nothing more need be 

 said of them here, but in an Appendix are given the names of 

 indigenous trees and of those introduced up to 1770. 



At the beginning of the historical period and for centuries 

 thereafter, the small amount of evidence available as to tree- 

 planting is not of a positive character. It is said that before 

 the third century the Apple, which is conjectured to have been 

 brought into Britain "by the first colonies of the natives, had 

 spread over the whole island, and so widely that, according to 

 Solinus, there were large plantations of it in the Ultima Thule " 

 {15). Fruit-bearing trees would probably be the first introduced 

 by man, for in early times the need of planting for timber supply 

 would not be felt, native trees being abundant and accessible. 

 The Wild Pear, for instance, is looked on as an introduction 

 which reverted to a wild character. During the Roman occupa- 

 tion several species of trees were brought into Britain. Accord- 

 ing to Professor W. Somerville, these number only four kinds, 

 viz., the English Elm, the Sycamore, the Lime, and the Spanish 

 Chestnut ; but, in addition to these, the Poplar, the Walnut, 

 the Box, and other trees of the garden and orchard have been 

 named as contemporaneous with the Romans. I know of no 

 proof that any of these trees reached Scotland during the Roman 

 period. In the investigation of the remains from the Roman 

 Military Station at Newstead, Melrose, some seven different 

 kinds of trees were determined, viz.. Oak, Birch, Hazel, Poplar 

 (or Willow), Alder, Rowan and Whitebeam (26). The last 

 named is native to England, but not to Scotland, so far as I 

 know. Ash was found in the shape of handle-shafts, without 

 evidence that it was procured locally, although this may have 

 been the case, this tree being recognised as native in South 

 Scotland. Coniferous and Beech wood did not occur amongst 

 the Newstead remains (26). 



In referring to the Roman period, Caesar's statement {De 

 Bello Gallico, V. 12) that all kinds of timber {materia) were in 

 Britain with the exception of the Fir (Silver Fir) and the 

 Beech must not be overlooked. The comparison is with Gaul, 



