CHAPTER XXIX. 



DUNCAN'S BOTANICAL STUDIES IN OLD AGE. 



THE study of Botany was still the dominant pursuit of 

 Duncan's life. From his new centre, he searched the whole 

 country far and near, to discover new plants and new 

 stations. For ten or twelve years after he came to 

 Droughsburn, he still went to the harvest in the south as 

 in former days, selecting new districts for exploration, 

 completing his herbarium, increasing his knowledge of the 

 Scottish flora, and adding to the plants he grew in his 

 garden. 



In gathering plants, he used no vasculum, a modern 

 luxury he never possessed. In want of it, he had various 

 homely but effective substitutes. A common one was the 

 overhanging interior of his " Tarn o' Shanter " bonnet ; but 

 a better was the top of his tall black hat, the plants being 

 kept in position with his big coloured handkerchief. In fact, 

 he never came home without his hat being more or less 

 filled with plants. Not unfrequently, in saluting a friend 

 or entering a house, his bashfulness caused him to forget 

 their being there, and they would stick on the crown of his 

 head, or fall to the ground, or be pulled out with his 

 handkerchief when ^he used it, or otherwise cause him 



