THE GARDEN AND THE WILDS 47 



The date of its coming was the sixteenth century. 

 The vanished hand, in this case, that of Mary 

 Queen of Scots. Amid her amiable weaknesses, 

 Mary seems to have included a liking for plants, 

 and may almost be traced from place to place by 

 the relics she has left behind. Archangelica 

 appeared in 1568, a year or two after the 

 return from France, and may with some prob- 

 ability also be credited to Mary. 



A Forfarshire den which I am in the habit of 

 visiting, is noted among dens for its depth of shade, 

 and the wealth of the flowering and flowerless 

 plants. There true wildlings grow along with 

 many a suspicious native. Everyone knows that 

 Solomon's seal is much more difficult to get rid of 

 than to plant. On being carried or thrown out of 

 the garden, it will run its stolons under the outside 

 soil in quite a get-rid -of -me-if-you-can sort of way. 

 At one time it must have been placed there with a 

 view of enriching the flora of the den. 



Now it chances that on the top of the rock, a 

 hundred feet or more above, there stands a castle 

 of more than ordinary interest, as contesting with 

 another the honour of being " The bonnie house o' 

 Airlie." The vanished hand may have stretched 

 from there. We cannot now deny the plant a place 



