46 ORMISTOUN'S LETTERS 



ground is all very foul. You must be at pains in cleaning and 

 working it over to bring it to rights or it never will give you 

 good crops of good things, for it is now mostly poor, bound 

 with Weeds and for want of frequent thorough opening and 

 working. Your Gooseberries and Currants are degenerate 

 and become small, pull up some of the old. Make the ground 

 right and plant good young plants. Dress up and put into 

 order your Raspberries. Put every thing in order that what 

 you have may be good of its kind. Your Wall Trees are in 

 general in very bad order. Many must be pulled out, and 

 what remain must be right . . . the soil about their roots and 

 their roots must be taken care of. 



Scarsborough,! 28*^ Aug* 1739. 



XIV 



9 Octr. 1739. Charles, — I forgot in my last to put you in mind of the 

 Artichokes. I hope you have put them by hand and are at 

 the planting. The open ground about the young plants will 

 let the frost in, so you should cover them well, and soon with 

 dung above and I hope you did not spare it at bottom of the 

 trenches. Tread the earth closs down to the roots of all trees 

 at planting but particularly of large trees and put the earth 

 carefully and closs to their roots and don't let it be thrown 

 carelessly into the pit and so to leave empty holes about their 

 roots to contain air. Make the mould very fine. Better plant 

 20 thorough well than 40 in a hurry for dispatch. Haste in 

 Planting may truly be called FooFs haste. The ^ was a Horse- 

 Chesnut planted last year in the bottom upon D. Wight's 

 ground West of the Bank of Hollies and Yews ; plant another 

 directly West of it 10 or at most 12 f* asunder. Match them 

 as near as you can. If you have none of the size, you'l find 

 one south of it within Alex"^ Wight's Enclosure and if you take 

 it up put in two English Elms, if you have to spare, one in the 

 hole the Chesnut is in and the other about 8 feet either directly 



^ Cf. with this old spelling the Scores or cliff at St. Andrews. 

 2 A slip for ' There,' but one still hears, * The wurr,' etc., for ' there was ' in 

 dialect. 



