^0 FIELD AND FERN. 



herdess /e/e in costume on a shearing-day. Not con- 

 tent with '^ an abstract of all that is knoAvn in wool- 

 stapling/^ the directors proceeded in after-years to 

 give practical effect to the essay they proposed, by 

 offering 100 gs. to any woolstapler who would settle 

 by a certain day in a situation approved of by the 

 Board. Besides then* general researches into the 

 larch and other Scottish trees, the}^ inquired into 

 the causes of the difficulty of raising trees at all 

 on the eastern coast, and drew attention to the uses 

 of brushwood and other underwood, which had been 

 '' unduly neglected by owners and the public/^ They 

 encouraged the growth of osiers for baskets, and 

 willows for barrel-hoops, under restrictions as to age 

 and acreage ; and, aided by Mr. BoswelFs report of 

 his Italian tour, they strove to introduce a straw- 

 plait imitation of Leghorn, from common rye sown 

 thick on sandy gravell}^ soil, and cut when it came 

 into ear. 



The marine portion of the earliest charter was 

 never overlooked, and they took the breeding of 

 salmon fry under their charge. " The adventurers in 

 the herring fishery at Greenock^^ had every facility for 

 " communing with the Society,^^ when they repaired 

 to Edinburgh to beg them to persuade Parliament to 

 put the fishing bounties on a better footing, and to 

 prevent foreign herrings from coming in. They 

 laboured the point as to whether the "sea-grass" 

 might not become a good proxy for horse-hair in 

 stuffing mattresses, and more especially fostered the 



