526 Horticultural Tour through 



as well as some small clumps, &c. Mr. Ingram, the gardener, 

 showed us round the kitchen-garden ; the surface of which is 

 quite level, and is in the form of an oblong square. The 

 hot-houses are placed rather beyond the centre (their proper 

 place), and there is no central walk in front of them, which a 

 large garden like this should by no means be without ; and 

 more particularly a garden of this form. The soil here is of a 

 loamy nature, and well suited to apples, pears, &c. The trees 

 are beautifully trained, chiefly in the horizontal form, and bear 

 fine crops. Mr. Ingram disapproves of dwarf standards along 

 the walk borders, and is substituting straight espaliers in their 

 stead. On entering the hot-houses, we were rather surprised 

 at Mr. Ingram's system of management, particularly as regarded 

 thinning the bunches, which, we must say, is carried to an ex- 

 tent we never before witnessed. The Royal white sweetwater 

 was certainly very large ; but the Muscat, Hamburgh, Fron- 

 tignac, &c, were not remarkable in size of berry, with the 

 same treatment. In the peach house, the trees were in remark- 

 ably good order and good health, with a fine crop of fruit. 

 This house is merely covered with glass in the summer, which 

 is removed in winter, and is, in fact, nothing more than a pro- 

 tected wall, without fire heat: it contains room enough, how- 

 ever, for the management of the trees ; and, although not a very 

 pleasant object to the eye, answers all the purposes of a large 

 peach house. On the east end of the vinery is a small neat 

 green-house, lately built, which contains some good plants and 

 tender annuals. On the outside of the garden is a range of 

 cold melon pits, surrounded with a rockwork almost covered 

 with the coarser kinds of creeping and rock plants. Mr. In- 

 gram is very successful in raising seeds of the Primula prae'ni- 

 tens, which he attributes to his method of distributing the 

 pollen and effecting the proper impregnation of the flowers, 

 which is merely to blow occasionally on the flowers of the 

 plants while they remain expanded. 



Proceeding forward, we next arrived at the neat little village 

 of Kingsbarns, which strongly reminded us of the appearance 

 of an English village: the church with its spire and willow 

 trees, the neat little schoolhouse, the alehouse, and the farm- 

 yards, all grouped pleasingly together; and the general neat and 

 clean exterior of the houses, with the road leading through the 

 centre, increased the illusion: in short, nothing was wanting, 

 but the mansion of the lord of the manor, to perfect the resem- 

 blance of a true English village. 



We next entered the grounds of Sir David Erskine, Bart., of 

 Cambo. Having found Mr. Falconer, the gardener, at his 

 house, which is at least a mile from the garden, we proceeded 

 on in that direction. The fields here are well enclosed, and 



