DAVID DOUGLAS. 123 



the parish school, and at an early age showed a strong inclination for 

 gardening, which led to his being apprenticed in the gardens of the 

 Earl of Mansfield, at Scone Palace, for a term of seven years. David 

 was fond of books and the study of plants, and during this period 

 he made himself well acquainted with the native and exotic plants 

 within his reach, and acquired an elementary knowledge of Botany. 

 He greatly improved and extended this knowledge during the two 

 years he served with Sir Eobert Preston, of Valleyfield, where he 

 went to live after the completion of his apprenticeship. The garden 

 at Valleyfield was, at that time, celebrated for its choice collection of 

 exotic plants. Douglas was treated with great kindness by Mr. Stewart, 

 the head gardener, who procured for him access to the Botanical 

 Library of Sir Robert. In 1820, he removed to Glasgow, where he 

 was employed in the Botanic Garden of the University. Here lie 

 greatly enlarged his knowledge of Botany, and attracted by his intel- 

 ligence the notice of Dr. (afterwards Sir W. J.) Hooker, at that 

 time Professor of Botany in Glasgow University, and who made him 

 his companion in his botanical excursions to the Highlands and other 

 parts of Scotland for the purpose of collecting materials for his Floi-a 

 Scotica. By Sir William Hooker he was recommended to the Horti- 

 cultural Society of London, and thus he became known to Mr. Sabine, 

 at that time the able and enlightened Secretary of the Society, through 

 whose influence he was appointed Collector to the Society. His first 

 destination was China, but owing to the unsettled state of the country, 

 that rich field, afterwards partially but successfully explored by 

 Mr. Robert Fortune under more auspicious circumstances, was abandoned 

 for a time, and Douglas was sent to the United States in 1823, 

 whence he made many valuable additions to our hardy fruits, besides 

 procuring several fine plants till then unknown to British Horticulture. 

 In 1824 it was resolved to send him to the Columbia River, on the 

 western side of the Continent, to explore the vegetable productions of 

 the country adjoining, and southwards to California, of which scarcely 

 any thing was at that time known, although a glimpse of the forests 

 of gigantic Coniferse covering the coast range had been obtained by 

 Archibald Menzies a quarter of a century previous, when accompanying 

 Vancouver on his interesting voyage. An opportunity occurred through 

 the agency of the Hudson's Bay Company, and he landed at Fort 

 Vancouver, on the banks of the Columbia River, for the first time 

 in April, 1825. Prom that time till his return to England in 1827, 

 he gent home many beautiful plants, with seeds and dried specimens. 

 Among his earliest introductions were Abies Douglasii, Pinus pon- 

 derosa, and P. Lambertiana, In the spring of 1827, he went from 

 Fort Vancouver across the Rocky Mountains to Hudson's Bay, where 

 he met Captain (afterwards Sir John) Franklin, Dr. Richardson, and 

 Captain (afterwards Sir George) Back, returning from their second 



