SCOTTISH GARDENS 



Culzean, although Dunrobin is 280 miles further north 

 than Culzean, and the winter of inland Sutherland 

 is far more severe than that of Ayrshire. It is 

 difficult to account for the peculiar clemency which 

 distinguishes the shores of the Moray Firth, for that 

 great inlet lies far out of the direct course of the 

 gulf stream ; but certain it is that, wherever shelter 

 can be provided from the furious winds which rage 

 in this region during the winter months, all forms of 

 vegetation display vigour and luxuriance in a remark- 

 able degree. Robert Gordon of Straloch, geographer 

 and cartographer to Charles L, took note of this. 



"Dunrobin, the Erie of Sutherland his speciall residence, a 

 house well seated upon a mote hard by the sea, with fair 

 orchards, when ther be pleasant gardens planted with all kinds 

 of froots, hearbs and floors [flowers] used in this kingdom, and 

 abundance of good saphorn [saffron], tobacco and rosemarie, the 

 froot being excellent, and cheeflie the pears and cherries." 



One is disposed to murmur at the taste of an age 

 which swept away this old garden and its contents, 

 to make way for terraces and parterres on a grand 

 scale in the Italian manner, when the second Duke 

 of Sutherland enlarged the castle in 1845-51 ; never- 

 theless, the ground lies so beautifully, the views from 

 the terrace stairs are so commanding, and the trees 

 crowd down so close to the tide, that the whole effect 

 is very fine. At all events, we have here an example, 

 scarcely to be surpassed elsewhere, of the art of horti- 

 culture as it prevailed in the early Victorian era. 

 Should the passion for cultivating rare plants ever 



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