XV 



Is it permissible for a mere, and I hope modest, layman 

 to criticise the recreations of the Scottish 



Ministers 



and their clergy, or rather to express surprise and regret 

 Gardens or ^eir U Qg[ eG ^ as a body (there are notable 

 exceptions) of one of the surest sources of recreation ? I 

 refer to the relative rarity in Scotland of the country 

 parson who is an enthusiastic gardener. It is far other- 

 wise in England, where, not to mention names so illus- 

 trious in horticulture as Canon Ellacombe, Mr. Engleheart, 

 and the late Dean Hole, nothing is commoner than to 

 find the glebe garden rich in variety and exemplary in 

 culture both of flowers and fruits. It is difficult to 

 account for this; neither soil nor climate may bear the 

 blame in the north. Blame, did I say ? Be it far from 

 thy servant to impute blame ; but he may be suffered to 

 express surprise at the general neglect of one of the 

 surest and most enduring sources of pleasure and interest 

 open to a class whose profession keeps them in the 

 country, and confined to one spot in the country, with 

 brief intervals, from year's end to year's end. It distresses 

 me to see this neglect of a means for brightening the 

 routine of duty by a keen intellectual pleasure, and for 

 repairing the lassitude of study by spells of exciting open- 

 air work. 



52 



