TALKIHK TO EDINBURGH. 57 



rattle; then they sink the wind: they never care 

 which way the wind blows, and Fm blowed if you 

 can tell what to do with them, it would puzzle mor- 

 tal man, up hills four or five miles from the bottom, 

 and you tearing after them — that^s the way they 

 work you, and so they nail us." 



East to west, from Corstorphine Hill to Lee Castle„ 

 tlie country runs about forty miles. The Carnwath 

 covers are all fir plantations on the hills, and the best 

 of them belong to the Earl of Home, at Stone- 

 hill, near the Tinto boundary. The covers are 

 very middling, the fir plantations are scarce and 

 grown out, and there are very few gorses. The best 

 are round Wall House, nice and dry fir plantings on 

 the side of a hill, Avith heather and rock. Near 

 Wall House the country is generally old grass, and 

 mostly plough near home. The home country is not 

 spoilt by wire, which is a perfect pest in Carnwath 

 without the alleviation of telegraph-posts to the 

 bunting-gates, as in the Buccleuch country. In the 

 Dechmount country, about nine miles from the ken- 

 nels, the ground is sound and good, and all on old 

 grass. The crack gorse of the country is Riccarton 

 Hill, and Champflurie laurels have had a great re- 

 pute. Ever since Mr. Ramsay's death '^ the white 

 collars" have been under the mastership of his brother- 

 in-law, the Hon. James Sandilands, witha subscription 

 which was very nominal. His nephew has taken to 

 them on coming of age, and the subscription has been 

 fixed for the present at £900 a year. The land- 



