Gardens of Cottages. 275 



trained trees, young shoots seldom issue from the main stem 

 without amputation. I grant, that trees grafted and trained 

 in the reverse manner cannot be kept in exact uniformity of 

 training; — utility was my object, as also neatness of training, 

 so far as the nature of the thing will admit. I must say, that I 

 do not envy the taste of the person who would prefer a tree 

 trained in exact symmetry, bearing leaves only, to one trained 

 somewhat irregular, bearing a crop of fruit ; and to keep a tree 

 in regular bearing, a succession of young shoots must be an- 

 nually laid in. 



I am, Sir, &c. 



Wm. Balfour. 

 Howick, April 14. 1826. 



Art. XII. On improving the Gardens of Cottages, as practised 

 by the late I^ord Cawdor at Stackpole Court, in Pembroke- 

 shire. Communicated by Mr. William Buchan, F.H.S., 

 Gardener to Lord Bagot, at Blithfield, near Litchfield. 



Sir, 



In your Gardener's Magazine, 1 have seen a paper on 

 the benefits to be derived by the country labourer from a 

 garden, and the means of teaching him how to acquire those 

 benefits, by William Stevenson, Esq. ; and considering that 

 it might be of service to some of your readers, I shall en- 

 deavour to describe a method of teaching labourers to benefit 

 by their gardens, which differs from Mr. Stevenson's, and 

 which, in the hands of an indulgent master, I have in some 

 measure been instrumental in effecting, when in the service of 

 the late Lord Cawdor, at Stackpole Court, in Pembrokeshire. 



His lordship, ever anxious to promote the comforts of his 

 dependants, gave directions for additional chambers, and a 

 better system of ventilation in his cottages ; to repair the ex- 

 terior in the cottage style, and build new ones where wanted. 

 I was then instructed to put the gardens in a proper form 

 behind each cottage, and to make a court in front, for the cul- 

 tivation of flowers. I furnished them with such fruit-trees as 

 were best adapted for that climate, and stocked their courts 

 with herbaceous plants, shrubs, and creepers of the common 

 kinds; informing the cottagers at the same time, that they 

 would have to keep the whole in good order for the future ; 

 and I must here observe, that the information was not received 

 with a good grace by some of them, prejudiced as they were 

 against the introduction of any thing new. 



