2 
PINETUM BRITANNICUM. 
object of fending a collector to North-Weft America. Many of the trees in that country are reftridted to 
narrow limits; and it was thought probable that in the vaft unexplored country lying weft of the Rocky 
Mountains many important difcoveries remained to be made. How juft thefe expectations were, was fhewn 
afterwards by the difcoveries actually made by Jeffrey, by thofe of Murray, Beardfley, Lobb, Bridges, 
Peebles, Parry, and other explorers. The chief movers in eftablifhing the Society were the late good 
Lord Murray, Sir William Gibfon-Craig, and Mr George Patton of the Cairnies; and by their perfonal 
influence'a body of fubfcribers, about 350 in number, in a few months joined it. Of thefe many were from 
England (among others PI.R.H. the Prince Confort), but moft of them were landed proprietors in Scot¬ 
land. The funds fubfcribed by thefe gentlemen enabled them to fend out a colledtor, and to keep him in 
North-Weft America for three years. Their objehl was felt to be of that liberal and patriotic nature, 
that fpecial facilities were extended to them by various departments of Government, by the Hudfon’s Bay 
Company, and every public body with whom they came in contadt. 
The Committee appointed as their colledtor Mr John Jeffrey, a young gardener from Fifefhire, born, 
we believe, on the eftateof Lochore, the maternal patrimony of the late Sir Walter Scotland then employed 
in the Edinburgh Royal Botanic Garden. He had attradted the attention of Profeffor Balfour and Mr 
Macnab, as well as of fome of the members of Committee who were in the habit of frequenting the garden, 
by his zeal and intelligence, and had carried off the prize offered to practical gardeners for the beft collec¬ 
tion of dried plants made in the neighbourhood of Edinburgh. Mr Jeffrey was appointed in the fpring of 
1850, and left England in June of that year in one of the Pludfon’s Bay Company’s veffels, bound for York 
Factory, in Hudfon’s Bay. On his arrival there he accompanied the Company’s defpatch brigade, which 
was then wont every year to crofs the continent in winter, and proved that he poffeffed at leaf! one important 
requifite of a colledtor, by the readinefs with which he bore, nay enjoyed, the hazards, the labours, and ex- 
pofures of this winter journey. By this energetic courfe Mr Jeffrey faved a feafon. He was on his ground 
in the fpring of 1851, and for the whole of that year he devoted himfelf zealoufly to exploring and colledting. 
Among the coniferous produce of his colledtions were Pinus Bankfiana , P. flexilis, A bies Pattoniana, A . 
Douglajii , A. Menziejii, and Picea lajiocarpa, befides many other interefting plants. 
In his fecond year, Jeffrey went further fouth, and fent home fupplies of feeds of Picea nobilis and P. 
amabilis (Lambert’s P. grandis ), Pinus tuberculata and P. contorta; and, befides the very interefting P. 
Balfouriana and Tfatja Craigana, he then difcovered the fpecies of pine which we are now defcribing, which 
was named by the Affociation after him, in recognition of his fervices. His colledtions in the fecond year, how¬ 
ever, fcarcely kept pace with thofe of the firft year; and in the third year a very marked falling-off in the confign- 
ments, accompanied by a total ceffation of correfpondence, led to his engagement being brought to a termina¬ 
tion. What became of Jeffrey afterwards is not known. He was laft heard of at San Francifco, where, it 
was faid, he had joined an American expedition to explore the Gila and Colorado. His fate will probably 
ever remain a myftery. Had he ftill furvived, fome token of his exiftence muft furely have reached his friends 
in this country, or thofe who had previoufty met with him in his three years’ explorations in Oregon. The 
Hudfon’s Bay Company’s officers had been fo pleafed with him during the time he fpent in their terri¬ 
tories, that they were anxious to fecure his fervices after the Affociation had brought their engagement with 
him to a clofe; and we believe they took fome trouble to find him out for that purpofe, but without fuccefs. 
It has been surmifed that he had become enamoured of the life of the trapper, or “ mountain boy,” and had 
probably loft his life at an early period in fome of the perils incidental to that adventurous occupation. Be 
that as it may, the name of the prefent fpecies will foon be all that remains to call to mind his exiftence and 
fhort career. 
Ctilture. —It is perfectly hardy, and already a confiderable number of young plants, raifed from the feeds 
fent by J effrey and from fubfequent importations, is to be found in this country. 
Commercial Statiflics. —Price in 1855 for one-year feedlings 9s., and for two-years, 15s. each. In 
1863, plants from 4 to 6 inches, 3s. 6d.; 12 to 18 inches, 7s. 6d. ; and 18 to 24 inches, 10s. 6d. each. 
