366 BOARD OF AGRICULTURE. 



There is close by an artificial grotto, where a stone weighing 

 ten tons is so nicely balanced as to be turned with ease with 

 one hand. The park is magnificent. 



Up over the Derbyshire hills, the most romantic I saw in 

 England, is the beautiful little town of Buxton, where I passed 

 the night, and visited Manchester next day, then proceeded to 

 Leeds and York, the seat of a famous cathedral and of the 

 Archbishop of York. 



On my way to Edinburgh, I stopped at Durham to see the 

 cathedral and the old Dun Cow, that we read of in history. 

 There she stands, carved many, many years ago, in one of the 

 projections of the grand old cathedral, two of her teats broken 

 off short and another half gone, the milkmaid with a bucket 

 of milk on her head, while the cow looks for all the world as 

 if she might have filled it again as easily as slie did the first 

 time. Newcastle upon Tyne is a much larger and finer town 

 than I expected to find. 



The crops through Yorkshire and Durham were looking 

 badly, on account of the long and cold rains. They were also 

 badly lodged and injured. Covered yards for cattle are 

 adopted to some extent in Yorkshire, and with great success. 

 They furnish shelter and warmth, and preserve the manure. 

 They use them instead of box feeding or tying up. 



In Edinburgh I visited the museum of the Highland and 

 Agricultural Society of Scotland. In some respects it is 

 superior to the State Cabinet, as it ought to be, as it is the 

 result of many years, while ours has been collected chiefly in 

 the last five years, but in some respects the Massachusetts State 

 Cabinet is decidedly superior. Ilulyrood Palace, the home of the 

 unfortunate Mary, queen of Scots, is interesting from its histor- 

 ical associations. But I had greater pleasure in a day at 

 Abbotsford, and Melrose and Dryburgh Abbeys. The distance 

 from Edinburgh to Abbotsford is over forty miles. As I had 

 to leave Edinburgh quite early in the morning, and without a 

 breakfast, I called into a peasant's cot close by the Abbotsford 

 ferry, to get some coffee, and found, to my surprise, they were 

 neighbors of Sir Walter, and that they know and loved him 

 well. The tenderness with which they spoke of him was quite 

 touching. The good woman said that all the wood they had to 

 burn was bought by the pound, at Galashiels, a village a mile 



