^1^2 



who knows but at this seat of ancient warriors some 

 of them marks the birth-day of some great chieftain. 



That larger tree, that of a nut was set 



On his great birth, when all the muses met. 



The dates of planting particular trees or even plan- 

 tations, should always be registered and kept on an 

 estate ; by this means the ages of large old trees can 

 be accurately ascertained. In this case too, the 

 plan of having the v>^oods and plantations surveyed 

 and valued, as in introduction, is of great use. 



There is on the estate of Braco, in Perthshire, 

 the property of James Masterton, Esquire, a won- 

 derful and prolific spruce fir, the only one of the 

 kind I have met with in all the course of my profes- 

 sion. The young mother or parent tree (such a name 

 well becomes it) is not yet 16 years of age, and has 

 ten of a progeny ; she brought forth her first born 

 when eight years old, which is about half the mother's 

 height, and every year since she has begotten one, 

 and the last two years brought forth twins each 

 year ; and by the indication of her branches to catch 

 the soil on all sides as they expand, she seems deter- 

 mined to be more and more prolific, and with her 

 progeny, nursed and clad at her own expense, in 

 their beautiful evergreen mantles, bid fair to plenish 

 the estate of Braco, 



" Like the famed Indian Banyan tree. 

 In Malabar or Deccan spreads her arms, 

 Branching so broad and long, that in the ground 

 The bending twigs take root, and daughters grow 

 About the mother tree, a pillar'd shade, 

 High over arched, and echoing walls between — 

 There oft the Indian herdsman, shunning heat. 

 Shelters in cool, and tends his pasturing herds 

 At loop-holes cut through thickest shade." — Milton. 



