364 Domestic Notices : — Ireland. 



pcedia of Gardening ten years ago) that if every part of Arthur's Seat were 

 rendered of easy access to carriages, by laying out roads in the manner 

 which I have proposed above, it would be an admirable situation for villas 

 and ornamental cottages. Perhaps one part of the hill might be devoted 

 to this purpose, another to a zoological garden, and another to a general 

 cemetery; but I confess I should prefer to see the whole a hill of churches, 

 monuments, tombs, fancy gardens, and trees, with only a few intervening 

 dwellings." 



Mr. Neill, in a postscript to his pamphlet, says : — " Were Arthur's Seat 

 as near to London as it is to Edinburgh, Mr. Loudon's plan would be good : 

 but he seems to forget the difference between the two capitals. His scheme 

 is too magnificent, and would prove too costly, for us : mine, I think, is 

 moderate and practicable." This is no doubt true, if we limit our views 

 to a cemetery ; but if we extend them, so as to include churches, chapels, 

 and other public buildings, and also private buildings, we should think the 

 speculation likely to be a good one in a pecuniary point of view. — Cond. 



Mr. NeiWs Garden at Canonmills. — The rage for cleanliness and puri- 

 fication which lately existed in Edinburgh, in consequence of the cholera 

 alarm, induced the magistrates to attempt to drain the loch or lake of 

 Canonmills, on the margin of which the ancestors of Mr. Neill have 

 enjoyed a small property ever since the close of the seventeenth century. 

 This loch has become of more importance to Mr. Neill than it can have 

 been to any of his ancestors, from the number of plants which he has in 

 his garden. In a printed statement laid before the magistrates, he informs 

 us that his garden, " though very limited in extent, contains a cool green- 

 house, a warm green-house, and a stove or hot-house, with a double 

 pit, and two large frames, all of them filled with flower-pots. The 

 number of flower-pots requiring a supply of soft or river water daily 

 [which can only be procured from the loch ; all the other sources being 

 impregnated with salts of lime, or of iron, and incapable of dissolving soap] 

 is 2601." Mr. Neill farther observes, that " when the rarity and costliness 

 of many of the plants are considered (the value of the collection 

 amounting, according to the estimate of most competent judges [Messrs. 

 M'Nab, senior and junior, of the Royal Botanic Garden], to ^600 it must 

 be admitted, it is to me a concern of no little interest and importance, laying 

 altogether out of view the pretium affectionis [their keepsake value] ; and 

 the existence of my garden depends on my having access to the loch." We 

 can sympathise with the feelings of Mr. Neill at the prospect of losing the 

 soft water for his garden ; and we heartily congratulate him and his 

 friends about Edinburgh, and these include all who know him, on the suc- 

 cess of his remonstrance, and the preservation of the loch. We have long 

 wished for a plan and bird's-eye view of Mr. Neill's suburban retreat, 

 which all who have seen it allow to be unique ; but our countrymen at 

 Edinburgh are difficult to move. — Cond. 



IRELAND. 



Dublin, Feb. 21. 1832. — Our weather here is unnaturally mild. The 

 winter has been a perpetual spring. At this moment, on the north side of 

 this city, in my garden and elsewhere, laurels are in flower. Kerria 

 japonica, and many others, are also in most plentiful flower; and peaches, 

 &c, will be in blossom, if the weather continues the same, in another week. 

 Currants and gooseberries are expanding their leaves. Many green-house 

 plants have stood out safely with me the whole winter. 1 shall, I hope, 

 send you a list, ere long, of plants which have stood out more than one 

 year with me, amongst which you will find many not hitherto attempted 

 to be acclimatised in this country. -— R. Mallet. 



