SCOTS FIR. 



37 



cently been propagated, that there are, in Scotland, 

 two distinct varieties, at least, of this tree, one the 

 produce of our ancient natural forests, now to be 

 found only in the Highlands ; and another, an al- 

 leged intruder from Canada, of a very inferior de- 

 scription, and at present exclusively cultivated in the 

 Lowland districts of the country. Notwithstanding 

 the high authority from which this opinion origi- 

 nally comes, (it having been first broached in an able 

 treatise on Planting, in the Quarterly Review, which 

 treatise has been universally ascribed to Sir Walter 

 Scott), I cannot help stating doubts as to the con- 

 clusiveness of the arguments brought in support of it. 



In the first place, Pursh, the author of the Ame- 

 rican Flora, and all other botanists, deny that the 

 Pinus sylvestris, or our Scots fir, exists in Canada, 

 or in any part of America. That it does so, seems 

 therefore entirely a gratuitous assumption. 



In the second place, and waving this formidable 

 objection, it is affirmed that this Canadian variety 

 was introduced so late as half a century ago. Now, 

 granting that the tree which we now cultivate 

 in the Lowlands, under the name of the Scots fir, 

 did originally come from that part of the world, 

 there seem to be insuperable difficulties in the sup- 

 position that its introduction was so recent. Either 



