216 LITERATURE OF SCOTTISH ARBORICULTURE. 



lands of our country were saved from the ravages which would 

 otherwise have befallen them in these troublous times. 



As civilisation progressed, and the inhabitancy of the country in 

 later ages became removed from the savage wigwam of the woods, or 

 fortresses of the hill tops, or " duns" as they were called, to the 

 baron's castle or feudal keep, generally built upon sites surrounded 

 by cultivated land and in aUuvial soils in valleys and plains, the 

 necessity for planting timber trees for shelter became a matter of 

 considerable moment, and thus the arboriculture of the early middle 

 ages found an outlet for its development. The requirements, also, 

 of these Avarlike times for spear-shafts and bows and arrows, and 

 other implements of attack or defence, led to the practice of select- 

 ing and planting in convenient situations particular species of trees 

 suited to such purposes. Hence we find the English yew constantly 

 growing beside old castle ruins and dismantled forts, and in old 

 churchyards; not placed in this latter situation, be it remembered, 

 from respect to the dead, as is often supposed, or out of any idea that 

 the gloomy and sombre shade of the yew was more suitable for a 

 grave, than the bright rays of the sun falling upon it, but because 

 the yew tree made the best bows for the archers, and consequently 

 supplies of them were raised by the barons for their numerous 

 retainers, and they were also grown by the monks in the churchyards 

 and abbey lands for the use of their vassals. Thus, also, the ash 

 tree is frequently found growing beside old castle walls, for its timber 

 was also used for warlike purposes, and for the more peaceful re- 

 quirements of the agricultural serfs, being used to supply the handles 

 or shafts of the lances and pikes, and for the wooden portions of 

 nearly all implements of husbandry. For domestic uses, the beech 

 received much attention in early cultivation, being largely used in 

 the manufacture of common domestic utensils; while the oak was 

 indispensably necessary for centuries for the building of those 

 " wooden walls of old England," which, long before the days of 

 " ironclads," were all the country had to depend upon as a defence 

 from invasion or attack. 



"While w r e thus see, from the remains of old forests and planta- 

 tions of feudal times, some of the varieties of timber trees to whose 

 culture more special attention was given in these early times ; we 

 catch more of the details of the principles of planting and rearing 

 trees and shrubs, from an insight into the religious houses and 

 monastic foundations of the thirteenth to the sixteenth centuries, 

 through many of their chartularies and records still preserved. 



