CHAP. II. BRITISH ISLANDS. 



95 



fol. 1753, p. 152.) Arnot, in his History of Edinburgh, pub- 

 lished in 1779, speaking of this park, says : — " In the memory 

 of people not long smce dead [Arnot wrote about 1779], the 

 level strip at the foot of the hill [Arthur's seat] , which, from the 

 Duke of York having delighted to walk in it, bears the name of 

 'The Duke's Walk,' was covered with tall oaks; but now there 

 is hardly a single tree in its whole boundaries. Indeed, it is 

 extremely doubtful if, except at the bottom, there ever were any 

 trees on these hills, the height of the ground and barrenness of 

 the soil being very unfavourable to their growth." {Arnot' s Hist. 

 ofEdin., 4to, Ediu., 1779, p. 309.) It is clear, therefore, that the 

 platanus, mentioned by Dr. Walker, was not planted in the park 

 at Holyrood House : but we learn from the same authorities 

 (Maitland and Arnot) that there were two walled gardens 

 attached to the palace; and that "the royal garden at the 

 northern end of the outer court" was " converted into a physic 

 garden," and that it was under the same superintendence, and 

 applied to the same purposes, as the physic garden at the North 

 Loch. There can be no doubt, but it was in the physic garden 

 adjoining the palace, that the platanus mentioned by Dr. Walker 

 was planted ; and the planter was probably Sutherland. 



Bargally is to us by far the most interesting seat in Scotland, 

 with respect to the introduction of foreign trees and shrubs, 

 and though we have taken the greatest pains to ascertain from 

 what circumstances its proprietor became so much attached to 

 botanical pursuits, as to introduce in a remote part of Scotland, 

 in the 17th century, trees then scarcely known even in its 

 metropohs, and have been in a great measure successful ; yet 

 there is still some deficiency in the information we have ob- 

 tained. Bargally is a small property situated in a glen, the sides 

 of which are covered with natural wood, between Gatehouse 

 in Kirkcudbrightshire, and Newton-Steward. The proprietor's 

 name was Andrew Heron ; and he appears, by a family tomb in 

 the grounds, to have died there in 1729. We have applied 

 to about a dozen different persons in Kirkcudbrightshire, whom 

 we deemed most likely to give us information respecting Bar- 

 gally and its planter, and the following are extracts from the 

 communications we have received, joined to what we have been 

 able to glean from books. One of our correspondents informs 

 us, " that Andrew Heron was a son of Heron of Heron of 

 Kirauchtree (Caeruchtred), chief of that name. This Andrew 

 built a cottage, in which he resided, at the upper extremity 

 of the beautiful valley in which the present house of Bargally 

 stands, and planted all the lower part of the valley. The 

 splendid Quercus /lex and the noble beeches, which you saw 

 in 1831, are but miserable relics of the magnificent forest 

 which once rose between Bargally House and the river Palnure. 



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