BRITISH ALPINES. 57 



more especially the Highlands of Scotland. And 

 nowadays, when travelling is made so easy, and the 

 most remote districts of Great Britain are within a 

 day, or, at most, two days access of London, it is difficult 

 to picture the hardships that pioneers like Don under- 

 went in their mountain tramps. Hence it is fitting in 

 this chapter on British Alpines to give a short sketch 

 of the enthusiastic Scotch gardener and botanist whose 

 researches added so much to a knowledge of the 

 Highland flora, the more so as his Alpine garden at 

 Forfar was one of the earliest in Britain. 



George Don was born at Menmuir, Forfarshire, 

 in 1764. From a boy he took a keen interest in natural 

 history ; as an apprentice at Dunblane he started his 

 first collection of plants, and later, as a journeyman 

 at Glasgow, he gave one day a week to the botanical 

 exploration of the hill country as far as Loch Lomond. 

 After a varied experience in other parts of Scotland, 

 and in England, he settled down at Forfar in 1797, 

 hving on the products of a large garden, and renting 

 several acres of land as a nursery for young trees and 

 rare plants. Some idea of this garden may be gathered 

 from an article in The Scots Magazine, in 1809, by Dr. 

 Neill. " It is," he writes, " in alpine plants and in 

 hardy perennials and annuals that the Forfar garden 

 excels. The garden is situated on a bank which slopes 

 down to the lake of Forfar, not far from the town ; 

 and it fortunately includes a great variety of soils, 

 from dry to peat bog. No place could be found more 

 favourable for alpines and aquatics, which are in general 

 found to be of rather difficult cultivation, but which 



