PRINCIPAL GARDENERS—JOHN WILLIAMSON. 19 
combination had under the Regius Keeper and Professor one 
Principal Gardener, who was John Williamson. 
The laying-out of the new Garden in Leith Walk was a 
matter of supreme interest to Professor Hope, and in John 
Williamson he had apparently an efficient coadjutor. Hugo 
Arnot,! describing the Garden in 1779, speaks of its development, 
and says “this rapid progress of the Garden was much owing to 
the skill and diligence of John Williamson, the Principal 
Gardener.” 
Of John Williamson’s sympathetic collaboration in scientific 
work in the Garden there is evidence in a manuscript book 
marked, “A narrative of experiments made on trees in the 
Botanic Garden,” which is amongst the books and papers of 
Professor Hope bequeathed to the Garden by the late John 
Hope, W.S. In this book there is an account of five experi- 
ments carried out in the year 176g. The subjects of investi- 
gation were the movement of the sap, the polarity of the 
branches, the growth of the wood in the stem, and the relation 
of the parts of the flower to the ripening of the seed. Exami- 
nation of the records in the book lead to the conclusion that 
the daily observations and notes were made by John Williamson 
under the direction of Professor Hope. The outcome of the 
experiments is nowhere recorded, but the experiments them- 
selves are of interest as giving us some idea of problems of 
plant-life that attracted attention in the eighteenth century, 
and they testify to the diligence and enthusiasm of John 
Williamson. 
John Williamson died? in 1780 and was buried on 24th 
September of that year in St. Cuthbert’s Burying Ground.* He 
left two sons, who lived in 8 Church Street, Edinburgh, one, 
Hugo Arnot, “The History of Edinburgh,” 1779, p. 418, Footnote. 
* The friendly intervention of the late Mr. John Hope, W.S., brought me 
into relation with Mr. Andrew F. Kedslie, 12 St. Vincent Street, Edinburgh, 
and through his kindness I have learned from his aunt, Mrs. Agnes Armand, 
great-granddaughter of John Williamson, that she has some recollection of 
being told by her mother that John Williamson was shot at and killed in 
Leith Walk. To the same source I am indebted for the information in the 
text regarding John Williamson’s family. 
* **John Williamson from the Botanest Gardens a turf.”— Register of St. 
Cuthbert's Burying Ground, September 2gth, 1780. 
