96 



HISTORY AND GEOGRAPHY OF TREES. 



PART I. 



Andrew Heron married twice, and left a family. He, with one 

 of his wives, was buried in a tomb which lies in front of Bargally 

 House. The date inscribed on this tomb is 1729. Andrew's 

 estate devolved, on his death, to his son, Dr. Andrew Heron ; but 

 he was involved in a lawsuit with the Kirauchtree family ; and 

 though it was decided in his favour, it ended in greatly injuring 

 his fortune. In consequence of this, he sold Bargally to Hannay 

 of Kirkdale, and retired to a cottage, where he died many years 

 ago at a very advanced age." Another correspondent says, " I 

 was born about two miles from Bargally, and recollect to have 

 seen Dr. Heron, the son of the botanist, when I was very young. 

 I communicated with several people who have lived their whole 

 lifetime near Bargally, and are considerably older than I am, but 

 they all replied that they knew nothing more about old Bar- 

 gally than what I had stated to them. I recollected that the 

 Herons of Heron [the estate of Heron is in Northumberland, 

 see A Genealogical History of the Ancient Family of Heron^ 

 imp. 4to, part ii.] of Kirauchtree, and the Herons of Bargally, were 

 originally from the same stock; and, as Lady Heron Maxwell 

 of Springkell is the last of the lineal descendants of the Herons 

 of Kirauchtree, I wrote to Her Ladyship, mentioning that you 

 were engaged on a work that required some information about 

 Andrew Heron of Bargally, and begging that she would tell me 

 what she knew or had heard about him. I received a letter 

 from Her Ladyship yesterday (April 6. 1835), giving me extracts 

 from an old manuscript document in her possession relative to 

 Andrew Heron of Bargally. I enclose a copy, and I hope it 

 will give you all the information you require about that wonder- 

 ful man. It appears that Andrew Heron was of no profession, 

 simply the ' Laird of Bargally ; ' but he must have been a per- 

 son who had travelled a good deal, to induce him to do so 

 much at that early period. 



" The old orchard and flower-garden at Bargally have been, 

 to my personal knowledge, a grass field for forty years and up- 

 wards ; but some of the fine variegated hollies, now large trees, 

 still remain to mark the different divisions of the garden. About 

 thirty years ago, when I was walking over the grass field, which 

 was originally the garden at Bargally, in the month of August, 

 I observed peering through the grass some crocus plants, both 

 white and purple ; this surprised me, for I had never seen an 

 autumnal crocus. The gentleman to whom the property then 

 belonged, was also astonished, saying that he had never observed 

 them before. I cut up a few of the roots of the different kinds, 

 with a portion of the turf, and carried them to St. Mary's Isle, 

 and from these roots many plants have been propagated. There 

 are still some curious trees and plants to be seen at Bargally, 

 remaining to sound the praises of old Andrew Heron the 



