596 Floricultural and Botanical Notices, 



and was charmed with the situation of the Grecian villa on the romantic 

 bank of the same river. I could not, however, forget Auchincruive ; and 

 am afraid the beauties of Colesfield were in a great measure lost upon me. 

 I was obliged to return rapidly to Paisley, and had not time to visit the 

 many other beautiful seats with which I was told this neighbourhood 

 abounds ; but, as Glasgow will be my head-quarters for some time, I hope 

 to make another excursion to Ayrshire. 



From Paisley I went with Mr. B. and another gentleman to Castle 

 Semple; " a pretty melancholy place," as Evelyn would have called it. 

 Whether I am right or wrong I cannot say ; but the impression produced 

 on me by this place was that of profound melancholy. The whole park, 

 which is extensive, and the farm, gardens, and pleasure-grounds, occupy 

 the face of a bank of 300 or 400 acres, at the south base of which is a na- 

 tural lake, upwards of a mile in length. The park abounds in fine trees, 

 and both it and the pleasure-grounds are kept in excellent order. What 

 I disliked most about this place was the kitchen-garden, which seems to 

 me to have been completely overdone. The walls are much too high, 

 and are ponderously constructed ; and the carpentry of the hot-houses is 

 of the last age. I was surprised to find rather poor crops in the vineries, 

 which I was told was owing to the defective manner in which the borders 

 are constructed ; 1 was told in what the error consisted, but have forgot- 

 ten. I would recommend you to ascertain it from the gardener, Mr. Lau- 

 der, a very intelligent young man, who, I believe, reads your Magazine, 

 through the favour of his very excellent master and mistress. As every 

 thing in the building way appears to have been conducted here on a most 

 magnificent scale, and as you know I take a great interest in the homes of 

 the working classes all over the world, I was curious to know what sort 

 of a house Lauder had got. Judge of my surprise, when he took me to a 

 low-ceilinged damp cell, as I may call it, in which one room serves both as 

 bedroom and parlour. He endeavoured to apologise for the dampness, by 

 showing me that on one side of the house the earth was as high as the 

 windows. I must do him the justice to say that he made no complaints, 

 though I do not believe that there is a gardener's house in all England 

 so unfit for a human dwelling. I asked to see the lodging-rooms of the 

 journeymen, but, bad as Lauder's house was, it was a palace compared 

 with theirs. There were only two rooms, each about J 2 ft. by 9 ft., 

 for the eating and sleeping of six men ; and the sleeping-room was filled 

 up so entirely with the beds, that it was difficult to get into it. I am 

 afraid your Cottage Architecture will not meet cases of this kind. The 

 lodge of these men, as well as Lauder's house, forms a lean-to to the garden 

 wall ; and it would never occur to a country gentleman that plans for de- 

 tached dwellings surrounded by terraces or platforms, such as your designs, 

 would suit such situations. You should give plans for gardener's houses, 

 connected with the kitchen-garden walls, and I think you would do most 

 good by giving them in your Magazine, which is read by many who will 

 never see what is to me by far the more interesting work. You shall hear 

 again soon from yours, &c. — An Englishman. 



Art. II. Floricultural and Botanical Notices qfneiv Plants, and of 

 old Plants of Interest, supplementary to the latest Editions of the 

 " Encyclopedia qf Plants" and of the " Hortus Britannicus.'' 



Curtis' s Botanical Magazine ; each monthly Number containing eight plates, 

 3s. Qd. coloured, 3s. plain. Edited by Dr. Hooker, King's Professor of 

 Botany in the University of Glasgow. 



