106 
Mr Neill on the Ayrshire Rose, 
the seeds of new, curious or useful plants. Of the trans- 
atlantic rarities sent home by this collector, no register 
seems to have been made ; and both he and his patrons have 
thus in a great measure lost the credit that was due to them 
for their zeal. The late John, Earl of Loudon, was a sub- 
scriber towards this botanical speculation ; and in return, he 
received, in 1768 or 1769 , a share of a parcel of seeds sent 
either from Lower Canada or Nova Scotia. Among these 
were some briar heps; which being sown in the garden at 
Loudon Castle, produced a number of rose-bushes. These, 
in a year or two, attracted much notice by the great length to 
which they pushed their shoots. The present Mr George 
Douglas of Eodinghead (factor upon the Duke of Portland’s 
estates in Ayrshire) resided at Loudon Castle at that period ; 
and he perfectly recollects the sowing of the American heps, 
and the wide rambling rose-plants which sprung from them. Se- 
veral of the neighbouring proprietors in Ayrshire got plants of 
the new rose for their gardens. Among others, the late Mr 
Dalrymple of Orangefield received a plant from Mr Douglas ; 
and he having trained it against the garden-wall, “ it ran ama- 
zingly,” (as Mr Underwood expresses it), the rapidity of its 
growth, and length of the shoots, surprising every body. The 
nurserymen of Kilmarnock and Ayr having procured cuttings 
and layers from this plant, bestowed on it the name of the 
Orangefield Rose ; in places at a distance, however, it soon came 
to be known by the more general title of the Ayrshire Rose. 
The original Orangefield specimen was in existence little more 
than twenty years ago ; but the garden having, about that time, 
come into the possession of a tenant, who preferred currant 
bushes to rampant roses, it was grubbed up and destroyed. 
Several of the original plants, however, still remain at Loudon 
Castle, some trained against the walls of the factor’s house, and 
others in old hedges on the farm of Alton, near Loudon. Mr 
Douglas has likewise some of the original plants growing in 
hedges, and against wails, on his own property of Rodinghead. 
It must be admitted to be somewhat singular, that no rose 
approaching in character to R. capreolata should be described 
by writers on the plants of North America, especially by Pursh 
