488 



NOTES AND ILLUSTRATIONS. 



Note XIV. Page 351. 



Whitaker, in his History of Manchester, has examined this point 

 with great learning and ingenuity. He shows, in the first place, that 

 there are no fewer than three original words in the ancient language of 

 Britain, used in Caledonia, Wales, and Ireland, respectively signifying 

 the Fir tree or wild Pine ; whereas the names of the Spruce Fir and 

 the Beech are obviously of Roman derivation. Secondly, he shows that 

 the Scotch Fir is found in the Maucunan, and such other ancient 

 mosses as are demonstrably prior to the conquest of the country by the 

 Romans, also in others far beyond the limits of the Roman province ; 

 moreover, that numerous specimens of the tree have been dug up, by 

 himself and others, in mosses lying several yards deep under the 

 Roman causeways, and especially in the moss of Failsworth. All this 

 incontestably demonstrates the structure of the road to have been pos- 

 terior to the formation of the moss, and by consequence to the existence 

 of the trees buried in it. See p. 300, et seq. 



Note XV. Page 351. 



Notwithstanding what the learned Lambert has so elaborately 

 written on the genus Pinus, and what a judicious planter of the last 

 century, the Earl of Haddington, has observed of the existence of 

 varieties of the tree, yet it is to Mr George Don, nurseryman at Forfar, 

 that we owe the best practical information on the subject. After care- 

 fully examining the Scotch Fir, under the most favourable circum- 

 stances, and arrived at full maturity, he has satisfactorily made out 

 that it has four principal varieties. 



1st, The common Fir, having a pyramidical head, the leaves margin- 

 ated of a dark green colour, and but little glaucous underneath ; the 

 cones considerably elongated and tapering ; the bark extremely rugged. 

 This species is comparatively short-lived, and soon becomes stunted in 

 its appearance. This is altogether a short-lived and inferior tree. 



2dly, The horizontal or Spreading Fir, having a spreading head, with 

 branches coming out in a horizontal direction from the stem, and then 

 tending downwards; leaves serrulated, broader than those of the 

 pyramidical species, in colour lighter and more glaucous, and the bark 

 less rugged ; the cones also thicker and smoother, and of a less tapering 

 form. The wood of this species is far more valuable than that of the 

 tree first described. It is likewise a freer grower and a much hardier 

 plant. 



3dly, Another distinct variety, having, like the first, a pyramidical 



