176 TRANSACTIONS OF THE [Sess. lxxvii. 



South than in his native county. It was, and still is, a 

 good type of a local flora, and retains for us a good deal of 

 the old lore which was associated with flowers and herbs. It 

 preserves the common and local names of the plants — always 

 a desirable thing — and in this respect is a striking con- 

 trast to Dr. Buchanan White's " Flora of Perthshire," which, 

 with many excellent features to commend it, does not give 

 a single popular or common name. The botanical journals 

 of the period gave the " Flora " a hearty welcome, although 

 some of the reviewers objected to the presence of so much 

 indifferent poetry. Objection was then, and has since been 

 made to his adding needlessly to the richness of the county 

 flora by including many of George Don's disputed " finds," 

 which Gardiner has to confess he has not been able to 

 verify. However, these points only affect the scientific 

 botanist ; to the ordinary reader, and especially to the local 

 one, the book should always be interesting for the bits of 

 plant lore, and the picturesque sketches it gives of the 

 botanist's happy hunting-grounds in the county. Incident- 

 ally, too, it illustrates Gardiner's familiarity with and 

 obligation to many local botanists who, in the third and 

 fourth decades of last century, made the botany of Forfar- 

 shire and Perthshire bulk so largely in the natural history 

 literature of that period. The issue of the " Flora " marked 

 the high-water point in Gardiner's life, for somehow the 

 tide began to turn from then. His scheme for a Fauna of 

 Forfarshire never took shape. 



While apparently considerable sums of money must have 

 passed through his hands, yet the expenses of a good deal 

 of his work were very heavy, and evidently he was never 

 quite free from monetary troubles. Then, as the outcome 

 of the trying and arduous field work of which I have 

 spoken, his health began to give way. No frame, however 

 robust — and his was not that — could bear such a strain 

 unscathed. The death of his wife in May 1850 was a very 

 sad blow, and seemed to accelerate matters. By the end 

 of 1851 he was very seriously ill. Friendly hands and 

 neighbours did what they could for him and his motherless 

 boy of six years. But it was apparent that better and 

 more regular attention and nourishment must be secured, 

 if there was to be any chance of recovery. Dr. Charles 



