474 Domestic Notices : ■ — Scotland. 



former Number (Vol. VI. p. 335.), as having been brought to this coun- 

 try by M. ValJet of Rouen, flowered in our garden at Bayswater, this year, 

 for the first time. As it is a vigorous-growing plant, it will be a great 

 acquisition to the ornamental scenery of the country. — Cond, 



SCOTLAND. 



Your Article on Scotch Cottages will, I trust, not be lost on your country- 

 men here, as well as in Ayrshire. I know not that we are quite so bad as 

 they are in that county, but we are bad enough, and worse than I can 

 tell you. I wish you had said more about their gardens ; for, though the 

 professional gardeners of Scotland are the first in the world, the kail-yards 

 of the peasantry are, I do believe, the worst-managed, and the most 

 tasteless, in Europe. With the exception of a very few places, they grow 

 nothing in them but greens (called open kail in some places) and potatoes. 

 Look at the cottage gardens in most parts of England, how they are deco- 

 rated with flowers, and enriched with shrubs. Even some of the vegetables 

 cultivated are ornamental, such as the scarlet runner, and the vegetable 

 marrow : but talk to a Scotchman about these plants, and he will tell 

 you the first is a poison, and the second nothing but water. The Scotch 

 are, no doubt, in many respects, a very superior people ; but they are far, 

 very far, behind the English in generosity of character generally, and in all 

 matters of cleanliness and taste. Can you find me a parallel case in Eng- 

 land of a wealthy proprietor, like the Duke of Buccleugh, suffering his 

 farmers to erect whatever sort of cottages they choose for their labourers ? 

 The thing is monstrous. Look at the cottages on any of the great estates 

 in England; the Duke of Northumberland's in the north, the Duke of 

 Newcastle's farther up, and the Duke of Devonshire's in the south and 

 west. I could write volumes on the difference between the two countries 

 — but * * * *— An Englishman. Edinburgh, May 28. 1832. 



A small Nursery, or rather Botanic Garden, for very rare plants, has been 

 commenced by our esteemed correspondent, Mr. Goldie, at Wrightfield, 

 near Ayr. We have seen a priced list of very rare and beautiful articles, 

 entirely hardy, and chiefly herbaceous, cultivated by him ; and, knowing 

 Mr. Goldie to be remarkably correct in his botanical nomenclature, and 

 worthy of the greatest confidence, both as a botanist and a man, we cannot 

 but strongly recommend him to public patronage. 



A Gardener distinguishing himself in any honourable way is always to us 

 a source of satisfaction, and we have seldom been more gratified in this 

 manner than by the perusal of a speech of Mr. Finlayson, gardener, at 

 Haddington, as reported in the Scotsman of May 5. Mr. Finlayson spoke 

 figuratively of plants and flowers, and applied his metaphors to the passing 

 subject of the day (Reform), in a manner which did credit to his fancy, 

 taste, and judgment. A man may be a very good gardener, without 

 troubling himself with any thing else ; but, if he knows nothing else, he 

 may as well be a slave as free. — Cond. 



IRELAND. 



Gardening, notwithstanding our political commotions, and the dreadful 

 state of uncertainty that this country will be in for some years to come, 

 appears to be prospering. Seven years have elapsed since I saw the 

 gardeners in the neighbourhood of Dublin, and I certainly know some dif- 

 ference in them. The exertions of Mr. Mackay, both in his own garden, 

 and in promoting a taste for plants wherever he goes, have had no small 

 influence in producing the present state of things ; but by far the most 

 scientific and enthusiastic young gardener in the neighbourhood of Dublin 

 is your correspondent, Mr. Mallet, jun. If this young man were consulted 

 by the Dublin architects, he would teach them what they know very little 

 of at present, how to apply the modern improvements in heating and ven» 



