PREFACE. 



patron Muse of Scotia's departed minstrels the Spirit 

 of Caledonia. 



We learn from the histories of the vegetable 

 kingdom that Calluna vtilgaris the generally accepted 

 botanical term for Heather has a wide distribution 

 throughout European countries, and in other parts 

 of the world. But so closely has the word Heather 

 become associated with Scotland, that whenever we 

 hear it spoken, or see it written, the fancy instinct- 

 ively roams to the "land of brown heath and shaggy 

 wood," the beauty of whose stern mountains, soft- 

 ened with their autumnal vesture of purple and brown 

 blending in every-varying and never exhausted tints, 

 has baffled the painter's genius, enchanted the poet's 

 vision, and inspired monarch and peasant alike to sing 

 its praises. 



The Heather enters into the literature, the po- 

 etry, the lyrics, and into the home life of the Scot- 

 tish people, to a degree unsurpassed by any other 

 plant in the history of nations ; and the wonder is 

 that its own interesting story has not before been 

 told in some complete form. Scotland and the Heather 

 are inseparable; the flower derives its inheritance of 

 unique renown, and somewhat, too, of rugged tem- 

 perament, from the Caledonian mountain wild which 

 has become so characteristically its home ; thus it is 

 in its identity with the land of Burns that I wish 

 principally to consider it. 



For the purpose of a clearer elucidation of the 



history and utility of the plant itself, however, it 



has been thought necessary to go beyond Scotland's 



borders; still it is believed that this further sub- 



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