12 General BesuUs of a Gardening Tour : — 



clown on the garden on one side, and to the pleasnre-ground, 

 scenery, and distant conntry on the other. A great mistake 

 committed here, in our opinion, is that of covering these steep 

 banks with turf, instead of clothing them with low shrubs, 

 such as rhododendrons, and all the genera belonging to that 

 order which do not grow above 4 or 5 ft. high. The effect 

 produced by these shrubs would have been delightful : whereas 

 a o-rassy bank, too steep to be walked on, not being part of a 

 reo-ular terrace, is of no use in adding to the effect, and is 

 commonplace in itself. The trouble of mowing this exceed- 

 ingly steep bank, we were told, was very great ; and the grass, 

 notwithstanding, looked coarse and thin. The walls, offices, 

 and buildings of every description are executed in the most sub- 

 stantial manner, and with an extraordinary degree of attention 

 to neatness, and to the perfection of minute details. Formerly, 

 the whole place was kept in the very highest order ; even the 

 floors of the pigsties, vi^e were informed, were scrubbed with 

 white sandstone, like door-steps ; but at present, though still 

 respectable in point of neatness, the walks in the lawn have 

 sunk too deep for the grass edgings ; the trees and shrubs have 

 become crowded, and the grass is less frequently mown than 

 it ought to be. 



Hannayfield is remarkable for having been laid out by the 

 owner, in a sort of geometric style peculiar to himself. The 

 house, by Mr. Newall, is commodious and most complete in 

 all its details. It commands the grandest and most Italian- 

 like views of any place in the neighbourhood of Dumfries. 

 The grass edgings are, however, pared, and the gravel raked 

 to a degree that filled us with horror. We found here every 

 disposition in the proprietor to make a fine place, except that 

 of taking advice ; and he maybe said, in consequence, to have 

 quacked himself. After the kindness which we experienced 

 from Mr. Hannay, it does seem cruel to find fault ; but we 

 have too much respect both for him and ourselves to deal in 

 any thing but truth. 



At Dalscairth, we were surprised to find some green 

 painted iron bridges, an artificial ruin, and other things, be- 

 longing, as we thought, exclusively to the cockney school. 



Goldielee, a secluded spot, backed by high wooded moun- 

 tains, which form at the same time a background to Dal- 

 scairth^ is in a state of neglect. 



St. Peter's, the residence of the Rev. A. Carruthers, at the 

 Gothic chapel, Dalbeattie, is a gem of beauty, formed out of 

 an aggregation of granite boulders (large rounded fragments 

 of stone found on the surface of the soil) and an immense 

 mass of that rock. By covering part of the rock with earth. 



