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JOURNAL  OF  HORTICULTURE  AND  COTTAGE  GARDENER. 
.'\rarcli  13,  1902. 
families  noble  in  tlieir  lineage  and  known  tlirongliont  broad  Scot¬ 
land.  Rat  it  is  to  Tyninghame — so  deserving  to  be  remembered 
— I  must  confine  this  sketch.  The  Tyninghame  estate  of  the  Karl 
of  Haddington  is  scarcely  less  sylvan  in  its  aspects  than  are  the 
Perthsliire  Higldands.  The  site  of  the  house  affords  beautiful 
perspectives,  for  not  far  out  on  the  north  side  roll  the  North 
Sea  waves,  the  Firth  of  Forth  meandering  towards  the  setting 
sun,  with  the  Fifeshire  hills  and  shore  banking  the  view,  far  on 
the  same  horizon ;  Inchkeith,  with  its  lighthouse,  and  the  Bass 
Rock,  or  Isle  of  Bas,  peculiar  for  its  colony  of  Solan  geese,  out 
to  and  around  which  the  pleasure  steamers  from  the  port  of 
Leith  run  many  times  daily  in  summer,  and  the  breezy  parks 
and  dales  by  the  time-honoured  manor — all  combine  to  make 
Tyninghame  a  pleasant  place  and  delightful  home.  This  was 
the  estate  on  wlnqli  the  first  authentic  forest-planting  scheme 
was  tested  in  Scotland  during  the  life-span  of  the  sixth  Karl  of 
Haddington,  in  1705 — Queen  Anne’s  reign.  Legend — supported, 
nevertheless,  by  reasonable  deductions — would  be.stow  the 
primary  honours  as  a  Scottish  planter  on  the  Karl  of  Linlithgow, 
who  is  accredited  with  having  planted  the  now  patriarchal  trees 
on  Callender  House  estate,  in  Stirlingshire,  after  his  return  with 
the  exiled  Charles  the  Second  at  the  restoration  of  that  monarch 
to  his  throne.  The  influence  of  Thomas,  sixth  earl  of  Had¬ 
dington,  was,  however,  so  great  that  he  .justly  merits  the  title  to 
be  “  Father  of  Scottish  Planting.”  Imagine  the  beautiful  Lothians 
without  trees,  largely  covered  with  morass  and  swamp,  cold, 
Avind  swept,  cheerless.  Southern  folks  even  now,  when  “up 
North,”  feel  the  need  for  further  shelter  from  the  biting  east 
wind’s  blast  that  so  .steadily  bloAvs  across  from  St.  Abb’s  Head, 
on  the  east  coast.  Yet  the  records  show  that  so  late  as  two  hun¬ 
dred  years  ago  there  Avere  no  enclosed  fields,  no  proper  hedges, 
sparse  shelter  of  any  kind,  and,  of  course,  agriculture  Avas  in  what 
we  Avould  noAV  consider  a  very  rude  condition.  Anyone  who  reads 
the  story  of  the  Battle  of  Prestonpans — so  interestingly  narrated, 
for  example,  in  Sir  Walter  Scott’s  “Tales  of  a  Grandfather” — 
AA’ill  find  that  the  success  of  Pidnce  Charles  KdAA'ard’s  arms 
of  the  Highlanders  through  Avhat  General  Sir  John  Cope  had 
deemed  to  be  an  impassable  morass,  and  Avhich  resulted  in  their 
surprising  the  left  Aving  of  the  Royalist  army.  This  Avas  in  1745,. 
and  the  instance  is  here  referred  to  that  the  distressful  state 
of  the  land  at  so  recent  a  date,  yet  noAv  so  rich  and 
splendidly  cultiA'ated,  may  be  judged.  It  goes  to  prove 
how  great  had  been  the  transformation  OAmr  the  face 
of  the  land  since  ancient  times,  when  the  great  Cale¬ 
donian  Forest  stretched  eastAvard  and  Avest,  north  and  south, 
the  feAv  patriarchal  remnants  of  Avhich  (said  to  be  six  hundreji 
years  old)  hold  up  their  gnarled  limbs  in  the  higher  grounds  of 
Dalkeith  Palace,  near  Kdinburgh.  By  various  operations  carried 
oir  by  the  hand  of  Nature  and  of  man  this  extensive  tract  of 
forest,  as  of  Avoods  elseAA’here,  had  been  destroyed.  The  sixth 
Karl  of  Haddington  began  to  plant  Binning  Wood,  a  foi-est  of 
300  Scottish  acres,  close  by  his  mansion,  as  I  have  already 
mentioned,  in  the  year  1705.  By  1730  planting  on  a  large  scale 
had  become  A'cry  general  in  Scotland,  and  by  the  exertions  and 
example  of  such  other  contemporaries  as  Archibald,  Duke  of 
Argyll,  the  Karls  of  Bute,  Duke  of  Athole,  Sir  James  Nasmyth, 
and  Sir  Archibald  Grant  very  large  estates  began  again  to  be 
clothed  Avitli  timber. 
It  may  be  apposite  to  refer  to  the  influence  of  Lord 
Haddington’s  letter  to  his  grandson  on  the  subject  of  planting. 
This  AA-as  really  a  book,  and  entitled  “A  Treatise  on  the  Maner 
of  Raising  Forest  Trees,  Ac.  :  In  a  Letter  from  the  Karl  of  - - - 
to  his  Grandson  :  Kdinburgh,  AIDCCLXI.”  This  very  scarce  book 
is  included  in  the  Signet  Library,  at  Kdinburgh,  and  contains 
many  interesting  personal  details.  T’hough  not  printed  till  1761, 
the  I'reatise  AAas  Avritten  in  1733  (the  Karl’s  OAvn  son.  Lord 
Binning,  haAung  died  the  year  prcAiously)  to  the  eldest  son  of 
this  Lord  Binning,  a  boy  of  thirteen,  and  Avho  succeeded  to  the 
title  and  estates  tAA  O  years  afteiur  ards.  “  A  Short  Treatise  on 
Fore.st  Trees,”  Ac.,  appears  to  be  an  ab.stract  of  the  aboAm,  and 
was  carried  to  three  edition.s — 1756,  1760,  and  1766. 
According  to  the  Rev.  John  M.  W  ilson’s  Imperial  Gazeteer 
of  Scotland,  “  The  manor  of  Tyninghame,  Avith  the  patronage  of 
the  church, 
anciently  be¬ 
longed  to  the 
Bishops  of  St. 
AndreAvs  (Avhe 
possessed  a 
house  in  the 
vicinity),  and 
AA’as  included  in 
their  regality 
lying  on  the 
south  side  of 
the  Forth.  In 
1552  it  appears 
to  have  been 
conferred  o  n 
the  College  of 
St.  Mary’s  in 
St.  AndreAvs, 
on  the  found¬ 
ing  of  that 
institution  by 
Archbishop 
Hamilton.  The 
manor  AA'as  for 
a  time  held, 
under  the 
Archbishop, 
by  the  Earl  of 
Haddington ;  it 
Avas  purchased 
by  him  in  1628 
(Avhen  Charles 
I.  and  his  Par¬ 
liament  Avere  at 
the  height  of 
their  quarrel) 
and  henceforth 
became  the 
home  domain  of 
the  family.  .” 
(“Bonnie  Prince  Charlie  ”)  Avas  largely  due  to  the  strategic  move 
rtioU)  till  Lady  Binniny. 
Fountain  at  intersection  of  cross  flower  borders. 
