PREFACE. 



contrarie to the expectation of the reader; wherefore 

 my petition to thee, Gentle Reader, is to accept those 

 my travyles wyth that minde I doe offer them to thee, 

 and to take gently that I give gladly; in so doing 

 I shall thinke my paynes well bestowed, and shall 

 bee encouraged hereafter to trust more unto thy cour- 

 tesie." 



To the friends who have so willingly and gen- 

 erously assisted me in the collection of the informa- 

 tion submitted, I tender my sincere thanks. Particu- 

 larly, in this respect, am I under obligation to Mr. 

 Robert Cameron, Curator of the Botanic Gardens, 

 Harvard University; Mr. Jackson Dawson, of the 

 Arnold Arboretum ; Mr. William Falconer, Superin- 

 tendent of Allegheny (Pa.) Cemetery; Mr. George W. 

 Oliver, of the Bureau of Plant Industry, Department 

 of Agriculture, Washington, D. C. ; and Mr. Joseph 

 Meehan, of Germantown, Pa. 



Especially am I indebted to Miss Elizabeth I. 

 Bierstadt, daughter of Mr. Edward Bierstadt, of New 

 York City, and niece of the celebrated American land- 

 scape painter of that name, for the charming life-like 

 painting of the sprays of Heather, reproduced from 

 flowers received from Scotland, which form the frontis- 

 piece to this work. 



I also tender my acknowledgments to Mr. H. C. 

 Dugan, of Aberdeen, Scotland, for photographs of 

 Scottish mountain scenery. 



I send forth this little volume, the result of some 

 years of painstaking research during the spare mo- 

 ments snatched from a rather busy life, as the tribute 

 of an expatriated Scotsman to the mountain flower 



