SCOTTISH GAKDENS 



and river, sequestered glades and shaggy cliffs. 

 There are gardens elsewhere more noteworthy than 

 this one for their contents for extensive collections 

 of exotics or remarkable specimens of individual 

 species. It cannot be denied that the owners of 

 Auchencruive, past and present, have displayed little 

 ambition in these respects, and this the enthusiast 

 may feel inclined to regret, for undoubtedly there 

 are the means here, on a friable soil in a western 

 climate, with abundant shelter from violent winds, 

 of cultivating the choicer kinds of trees and shrubs 

 mentioned in Appendices A and B. 



Nevertheless, natural features have not been 

 neglected ; breadth of effect has been well secured 

 by contrast of massive woodland with liberal spaces 

 of turf; brightness has been obtained by beds of 

 roses and the ordinary border flowers ; and through 

 this fair scene flows the river Ayr, here churning 

 into foam among reefs of red sandstone, there 

 sweeping in glassy reaches under the shade of 

 venerable trees. 



Miss Wilson has chosen for her subject the cliff 

 which falls sheer from the bluflf whereon the mansion- 

 house is built, and which has been skilfully wrought 

 into a hanging garden in a series of galleries rather 

 than terraces. It is a notable feature, and confers 

 an air of distinction upon what might otherwise be 

 remembered as merely a very pretty garden. Sameness 

 is not so prevalent a vice in decorative horticul- 

 ture as it was five-and-twenty years ago. It is the 



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