Now And Then About A Gentleman's House Stands A Small
Plantation, Which In Scotch Is Called A Policy, But Of These There
Are Few, And Those Few All Very Young.
The variety of sun and
shade is here utterly unknown.
There is no tree for either shelter
or timber. The oak and the thorn is equally a stranger, and the
whole country is extended in uniform nakedness, except that in the
road between Kirkaldy and Cowpar, I passed for a few yards between
two hedges. A tree might be a show in Scotland as a horse in
Venice. At St. Andrews Mr. Boswell found only one, and recommended
it to my notice; I told him that it was rough and low, or looked as
if I thought so. This, said he, is nothing to another a few miles
off. I was still less delighted to hear that another tree was not
to be seen nearer. Nay, said a gentleman that stood by, I know but
of this and that tree in the county.
The Lowlands of Scotland had once undoubtedly an equal portion of
woods with other countries. Forests are every where gradually
diminished, as architecture and cultivation prevail by the increase
of people and the introduction of arts. But I believe few regions
have been denuded like this, where many centuries must have passed
in waste without the least thought of future supply. Davies
observes in his account of Ireland, that no Irishman had ever
planted an orchard. For that negligence some excuse might be drawn
from an unsettled state of life, and the instability of property;
but in Scotland possession has long been secure, and inheritance
regular, yet it may be doubted whether before the Union any man
between Edinburgh and England had ever set a tree.
Of this improvidence no other account can be given than that it
probably began in times of tumult, and continued because it had
begun. Established custom is not easily broken, till some great
event shakes the whole system of things, and life seems to
recommence upon new principles. That before the Union the Scots
had little trade and little money, is no valid apology; for
plantation is the least expensive of all methods of improvement.
To drop a seed into the ground can cost nothing, and the trouble is
not great of protecting the young plant, till it is out of danger;
though it must be allowed to have some difficulty in places like
these, where they have neither wood for palisades, nor thorns for
hedges.
Our way was over the Firth of Tay, where, though the water was not
wide, we paid four shillings for ferrying the chaise. In Scotland
the necessaries of life are easily procured, but superfluities and
elegancies are of the same price at least as in England, and
therefore may be considered as much dearer.
We stopped a while at Dundee, where I remember nothing remarkable,
and mounting our chaise again, came about the close of the day to
Aberbrothick.
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