132 General Results of a Gardening Tour : — - 



ever, emigrating to either America or Australia, reckon on 

 being employed in any other capacity than as a common 

 labourer; and let him make up his mind, in the former coun- 

 try at least, to work much harder than he has ever been 

 accustomed to do in Britain, and to meet with fellow-labourers 

 who will generally be found his superiors in every description 

 of knowledge except that of gardening. — But we are forget- 

 ting the title to this article. 



In our last (p. 5.) we concluded with some general remarks 

 on the gentlemen's seats of the west of Scotland, and we 

 shall now offer a few observations on some of their details. 



The Fences in the Parks and Pleasure-Grounds of the West 

 of Scotland are in many cases very offensive to the eye, from a 

 variety of causes, but chiefly from having been treated as 

 objects to be looked at, rather than as temporary barriers ; in 

 short, from being considered as the end, instead of being only 

 the means. We do not speak of permanent fences, such as 

 the outer boundaries of parks, but of those formed round 

 young plantations in their interior, to protect the trees till they 

 are large enough to be no longer in danger from cattle. The 

 fence is, in all such cases, obviously a temporary expedient, 

 and should never, therefore, exhibit the appearance of having 

 had much labour bestowed upon it. It should not be of 

 a kind very conspicuous to the eye, or even seemingly very 

 impenetrable as a barrier, or of a very durable material. 

 There are other principles which enter into the consider- 

 ation of the subject of fences, such as their outline, and the 

 influence upon the fence of the manner of treating the trees 

 enclosed by it. 



The two prevailing fences in the district in question are the 

 hawthorn hedge and the stone wall ; both the very worst 

 that could be employed in a park or pleasure-ground, as pre- 

 senting all the opposite qualities to those which are desirable 

 in a temporary fence. The thorn hedge, when left to itself, 

 grows too large, and when carefully clipped, as it most com- 

 monly is, it exhibits an appearance of care and labour not in 

 accordance with the idea of temporary purpose. Bad as the 

 stone wall is, it is, however, when built of loose stones, with- 

 out mortar, not so offensive as the clipped hedge ; because it 

 is neither so large, nor so lumpish in form, nor so monotonous 

 in colour. Still, both these fences are utterly inadmissible, in 

 our opinion, as temporary enclosures in a park; nor can there 

 be any occasion to resort to them, now that the thinnings of 

 plantations may be had all over the west of Scotland at a very 

 low price. These thinnings, or small fir trees, cut in lengths 

 of 5 or 6 ft., inserted in the ground with their bark on, and 



