100 HISTORY AND GEOGRAPHY OF TREES. PART I. 



London in pots in the year 1741. Sir Thomas Dick Lauder, 

 as we have seen, however, says the larch was first planted in 

 Scotland, at Sir James Nasmyth's, at Dawick, in 1725. The 

 Rev. James Headrick, in his Survey of Forfar shire ^ gives another 

 account of the introduction of the larch into Scotland. He 

 says, " It is generally supposed that larches were first brought 

 into Scotland by one of the Dukes of Athol ; but I saw three 

 larches of extraordinary size and age, in the garden near the 

 mansion house of Lockhart of Lee, on the northern banks of the 

 Clyde, a few miles below Lanark. The stems and branches 

 were so much covered with lichens, that they hardly exhibited 

 any signs of life or vegetation. The account I heard of them 

 was, that they were brought there by the celebrated Lockhart of 

 Lee (who had been ambassador from Cromwell to France), soon 

 after the restoration of Charles II. (about 1660). After Crom- 

 well's death, thinking himself unsafe on account of having served 

 a usurper, he retired some time into the territories of Venice. 

 He there observed the great use the Venetians made of larches 

 in ship-building, in piles for buildings, in the construction of 

 their houses, and for other purposes ; and when he returned home 

 ho brought a number of larch plants in pots, with a view to try 

 if they could be gradually made to endure the climate of Scot- 

 land. He nursed his plants in hot-houses, and in a green-house 

 sheltered from the cold, until they all died, except the three 

 alluded to ; these, in desperation, he planted in the warmest and 

 best sheltered part of his garden, where they attained an extra- 

 ordinary height and girth." (Headrick's Fotfarshire, p. 374.) 



The estate of Dunkeld now contains the most extensive plant- 

 ations of the larch in the island, spreading over several thousand 

 acres. A copious and most valuable account of these plantations 

 will be found in the Transactions of the Highland Society, vol. 

 ix., and an abridgment of that account in our Encyclopaedia of 

 Gardening^ 6579. edit. 1835. Dunkeld has long been cele- 

 brated for its scenery. Dr. Clarke, the traveller, says, the scene 

 that opens before you, after going through the pass, perhaps has 

 not its parallel in Europe. u The grounds of the Duke of 

 Athol," he continues, <{ I do not hesitate to pronounce without 

 a rival." Gray, the author of the Elegy, was " overcome and 

 almost lost" by the beauties of Dunkeld. Gilpin called it the 

 " portal of the Highlands," and Dr. Macculloch has nearly 

 filled a volume on the subject. The house at Dunkeld is a 

 plain large building, erected in 1685, but it has long been in 

 contemplation to remove it, and to build one of superior archi- 

 tectural pretensions. John Murray, the present Duke of Athol, 

 has lately constructed a magnificent public bridge over the Tay 

 at Dunkeld, government assisting His Grace with one sixth part 

 of the expense. The bridge was constructed on dry land, and 



