MEMOIR. 61 
was called Dovehillock (vulg. Doo Hillock), sloped to the west into 
what at one time had been Forfar Loch. He lived here in a very 
penurious and frugal manner, selling vegetables to such of the 
Forfar people as chose to send for them. He made a large 
artificial pond, which he stocked with aquatic plants and fish, 
leaving room for a broad border, in which the native plants were 
arranged according to the Linnean system and grown in their 
appropriate soils. In addition, he rented several acres of land 
as a nursery for young trees. 
About this time he was particularly eager in exploring the 
Highlands, and not the least interesting of his discoveries is that 
of the beautiful district of Clova, which he first made known to 
the botanist. He occasionally absented himself for a week at a 
_time, his plaid, and a bag of oatmeal or some bread and cheese, 
sufficing him for shelter and sustenance; and he lost count of 
the days in these toilsome expeditions, so that, it is said, he once 
presented himself at the manse of St. Vigeans laden with 
specimens on a Sabbath morning as the occupants were going to 
“6. Assignation and Renunciation by the said Alexander Whyte in favour 
of the Magistrates and Town Council of the Burgh of Forfar dated 25th 
May 1858. 
“I may add that a few years prior to the date of the last Deed the Town 
Council had acquired the property of Dovehillock and djoining nd 
by excambion from Carse Gray, so that in 1858 the Town became absolute 
Proprietors of the property and lease. 
“I think the above is the whole information that it is possible for me to 
obtain, and I trust it will be of some service. At least it is absolutely 
reliable,” 
‘ Dr. Neill, in his Memoir of John Mackay, says (see page 23 of these 
Notes”) that Don was a clock and watch maker in Glasgow in the sum- 
mer of 1793, and in the summer of 1794 Forfar had “ become the place of his 
residence and where he cultivated an immense variety of the rarest hardy 
plants,” This, on the face of it, seems unlikely unless perhaps the plants had 
Previously been under the care of his father, who is said to have been a great 
cultivator of flowers ; and I am inclined to the view that Don was at Forfar 
Carlier than Dr. Neill suggests. Don himself says, “I have cultivated [Poa 
Slauca] at Forfar since the year 1793.” (See p. 196 of these “ Notes.”) It 
is clear that Don had a garden at Forfar before he went to Dovehillock. 
€n writing in 1805 Don says, “1 afterwards had occasion to remove my 
Collection of living plants to a piece of ground near the town of Forfar.” (See 
P. 195 of these “ Notes.”) He refers in this to the move to Dovehillock in 
1797, but we have no indication of the whereabouts of the garden af Forfar 
'n which he was growing plants from the year 1793 onward.—/, B, B, 
