22 



HISTORY AND GEOGRAPHY OF TREES. 



PART I. 



Saxon is bece; beche, Fr. ; and buche, Ger. The Scotch pine, 

 Whitaker thinks, was a native of the island before the arrival of 

 the Romans, though unknown to them at their invasion ; and this 

 . Ine, judging from the resinous quality of that dug up from peat 

 bogs, he considers to have been of a different species from that 

 now grown in England, and « the same assuredly- with the 

 Scotch fir of the highlands of Scodand." Here we know the 

 author to be entirely mistaken ; the species being every where the 

 same, and the quality of the timber differing only in consequence 

 of differences in the soil and situation. Sir Walter Scott fell 

 into a similar error, when he stated, in the Quarterly Review 

 (xxxvi. 580.), that our " Scotch fir was brought from Canada, not 

 more than half a century ago," and that the true species, found 

 in the north of Scotland in immense forests, grows with "huge 

 contorted arms, not altogether unlike the oak." The conjec- 

 tures of these two eminent writers only show that, however 

 great may be their authority in other matters, they are not to be 

 depended upon in what concerns trees. The Scotch pine must, 

 unquestionably, have been indigenous in the highlands of Scot- 

 land in the time of Cassar, though, in all probability, not to be 

 met with, or rare, in England, at least in the southern counties. 



The Romans, Whitaker observes, first brought among us, 

 as their present names sufficiently show, "the platanus or plane, 

 the tilia or teil, the buxus or box, the ulmus or elm, and the 

 populus or poplar. The platanus passed from Asia to Sicily, 

 thence into Italy ; and, before the year 79, as Pliny informs us, 

 it had reached the most northerly shore of Gaul. The apple 

 Whitaker conjectures to have been brought into Britain by the 

 first colonies of the natives, and by the Hsedui of Somersetshire 

 in particular; hence Glastonbury was distinguished by the title 

 of Avellonia, or the apple orchard, previously to the arrival of 

 the Romans. Before the third century, this fruit had spread 

 over the whole island, and so widely, that, according to Solinus, 

 there were large plantations of it in the " Ultima ThuleP The 

 Romans added "the pear, the damson, and the cherry, the 

 arbor persica, perch, or peach ; aprica, or apricot ; and cydonia, 

 or quince." Cherries were introduced from Pontus and Egypt 

 into Italy by Lucullus, who conquered the former country; and 

 they were carried into Britain within five years of the first set- 

 tlement of the Romans in the country. Pears abounded in 

 Italy, though it is uncertain at what time the Romans brought 

 them into England. The damson was originally brought from 

 Damascus to Italy, and thence to Britain, as the quince was from 

 Crete, and the peach from Persia : the latter was common in 

 Gaul in the time of Agricola. 



The mulberry, the chestnut, the fig, and the sorbus, or true 

 service, were introduced by the Romans. It is singular, that, 

 not far from one of the very few habitats in which the true 



