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