294 THE GARDENER. [July 



gardens and forcing - houses. They are set down on a site little 

 better than a swamp, barely above the level of the Derwent river, in 

 the lowest part of w^hat may be termed a basin, where late and early 

 frosts and dismal fogs prevail, and play sad havoc with tender crops 

 outdoors, and where, in the forcing-house, the stoker has to contend 

 with the coldest air of the district. The uplands around this site might 

 have afforded superior positions in every respect. Another instance 

 is that of Drumlanrig Gardens, which are formed on what is the 

 lowest spot of a vast basin. They are nearly on a level with the 

 Nith, which, when in flood, floods the stokeholes. The soil is a heavy, 

 cold, claye}^ one, lying on the cold whinstone formation. Early and 

 late frosts are most destructive to all fruits and vegetables, and any- 

 thing like a kindly growth does not commence till the longest day. 

 And the difference between the temperature of this damp flat, and 

 grounds immediately surrounding it on higher and drier levels, is 

 very marked. This state of things has been arranged while plenty 

 of good sites could h^e been chosen higher and warmer, with 

 more genial and workable soils, and on the warm red sandstone 

 formation, where tender things flourish long after they are cut down 

 on the flat cold land by the river-side. Then, again, there are the 

 Horticultural Gardens at Chiswick, placed in one of the worst sites 

 for biting frosts and raw fogs that the valley of the Thames affords. 

 We might go on to enumerate other garden establishments, which, with 

 something like the most perverse blundering, have been placed on the 

 most unfortunate and undesirable sites, where the result invariably is, 

 that, from the prevalence of frosts and damp air, Potatoes and other 

 tender things are often cut down two or three times in May, while 

 those in the gardens of the cottage not very far removed, but in more 

 elevated positions, escape. Fruit-blossom of course shares the same 

 fate, and such things as French Beans are cut down in early autumn, 

 when just coming to their best, but on the high and dry hillside 

 continue their yield until October. 



It may safely be said, from the experience of many generations, that 

 the lowest part of an estate, however small, should never be selected 

 for the site of a garden, and that the higher positions should be 

 chosen, unless some very serious reasons can be urged against such an 

 arrangement. It is scarcely necessary to point out the chief reasons 

 for preferring the higher to the lowest site that is at command for the 

 formation of a garden. It is well known that the cold air rolls down 

 into the valleys, and that fogs envelop vegetation most frequently there ; 

 and that is enough to account for the damage which vegetables and 

 fruits sustain in valleys, while the uplands escape. It has also occurred 

 to us of late, that the propriety of enclosing a garden with walls so 



