TO HIS GARDENER 53 



advance fast which I foresaw as you may have observed by 

 my pressing you to get hands upon the first change and not 

 losing one hour. Plant first what the sap rises soonest in, 

 or do as is first necessary in Garden and in planting. This I 

 have advised in some of my former and I hope you have 

 considered and are executing accordingly. Not one scrape 

 from Lowther, and a ship was to sail on friday, of which I 

 advised him some days before. I design if I can spare a 

 servant to send to him tomorrow or next day, that if I can I 

 may let you be at a certainty in this Tuesday's post. Sir 

 Charles Gilmour ^ went on friday and I believe you may hear 

 from him sooner than I mentioned. I doubt not your having 

 had a good stock of dung one way and another. I hope the 

 pidgeon dung was on the ground and the dung was spread 

 before last night's shower. The difference between its being 

 so and not is great. So fine a going off of a hard Winter, 

 and so growing weather after it, surely never was seen. I 

 only fear if it continues the Spring will run faster than you 

 can get the Nurseries ordered and the hedges and early 

 breaking 2 trees into the ground, for the young in Nursery and 

 particularly the laid English Elms will break soon. Nursery 

 seeds shall also be got in that they may get up this season, 

 and all this besides cropping the Garden and managing the 

 fruit trees and borders. You had timely notice to get hands. 

 I hope you have not lost one hour, for half a day make as 

 great difference just now. The frost must have opened the 

 ground about the roots of trees planting about the begin- 

 ning of Winter. It must be trod down to them, and when 

 a little leisure some fresh earth may be put to the roots of 

 the old large ones before the Church and on the long Walk, 

 to fasten them well if the earth is sunk about them as most 

 probably it will. Monday. This as yet is a quiet soft grow- 

 ing damp morning, and if the sun gets up it will bring every 



^ Sir Charles Gilmour of Craigmillar, a member of the Ormistoim Society. He 

 married Jean Sinclair, daughter of Christian, John Cock burn's youngest sister, 

 and of Sir Robert Sinclair of Longformacus (Duns), a member of the club. 



'^ Budding. ' Laid English elms ' explains a frequent reference to ' elms ofif the 

 mothers.' They were propagated by shoots from the parent tree being laid 

 underground, and then separated when rooted on their own account. 



G 



