Domestic Notices : — Scotland. 197 



which, at present, is entirely useless for tanning purposes, from induration and 

 the impossibility of separating it from the trees." In the same paper, for 

 February 5., the old giant ash tree of Dalswinton is said to have been blown 

 down ; and the three brethren of Closeburn, an oak with three equidistant 

 trunks, very much alike in appearance, and precisely similar in girt, also gave 

 way. The timber of this tree measured 561 cubic feet; it is estimated to have 

 been upwards of 500 years old. After this tree was blown down, a mountain 

 ash was observed growing out of it, a proof that its trunk must have been in 

 a state of decay. The injury done to the woods of Dumfriesshire, taking them 

 as a whole, is estimated, by the editor of the newspaper quoted from, at 10 per 

 cent. Sir W. Jardine informs us that at least 40 acres of woods at Rae Hills, 

 have been blown down, and that thousands and thousands of trees lie pros- 

 trate around Jardine Hall, to the distance of from 10 to 15 miles in every 

 direction.— Cond. 



The Highland Society of Scotland, at their Glasgow show, gave away prizes 

 for papers on the following subjects, more or less connected with gardening, 

 and which we hope to see published in their Transactions. To H. R. Mad- 

 den, Esq., Warriston Crescent, Edinburgh, for an Essay on the Mode in which 

 Soil operates in promoting or facilitating the Germination and Growth of 

 Vegetables, the Honorary Silver Medal. To Mr. James Jackson, Plaintree- 

 shade, near Pennicuick, for an Essay on the Effect of Woods on Climate, Five 

 Sovereigns. To Colonel Miller, Urquhart, Fifeshire, for an Essay on the 

 Disease which has lately attacked the Silver Fir, the Honorary Silver 

 Medal. To Mr. James Balden, forester to Lord Blantyre, Lennoxglove, by 

 Haddington, for an Essay on the same subject, the Honorary Silver Me- 

 dal. For an Essay on the Improvement of Waste Land by Planting, 

 signed " Robur," Silver Medal. To J. S. Hepburn, Esq., of Colquhalzie, 

 for a Paper on the Construction of Stables and Farm-houses, the Honorary 

 Silver Medal. For a Communication on an improved Method of burning 

 Tiles, by Mr. James Taylor, Meorded Tile- works, Ayrshire ; and to Mr. Robert 

 Laing, jun., Campend, near Dalkeith, for an Essay on Subsoil and Trench- 

 ploughing, Five Sovereigns. Besides these the Silver Medal was voted to 

 five Essays on preserving Potatoes, and " thanks " for six Essays more on 

 the same subject. Thanks were also voted for an Essay on Ventilators for 

 Grain and Stacks ; for an Iron Scarifier for Grass Lands ; for an Essay on 

 Tanks ; for one on Shelter as a means of Improvement ,- and for one on the 

 Chemical Properties of the Juice of Potatoes. The Silver Medal was voted 

 for each of two Machines for sowing Grass Lands ; for a Machine for 

 spreading Soot on Land as Manure ; and one for the Model of a Bee-house. 

 To Mr. Thos. Bishop, land steward, Methven Castle, Perthshire, for a 

 Report on a Species of Grass, new in the cultivation of the country, thanks 

 and a Silver Medal were voted. {Scotsman, Jan. 30. 1839.) 



Progress of Cottage-Gardening in Fifeshire. — We are always delighted to 

 witness a taste for the cultivation of trees, shrubs, and flowers ; and, when 

 this is confined not entirely to the garden, which, in Scotland, is generally 

 behind the house, but extends to any spare plot in front, we do not know 

 anything more refreshing to the eye of the traveller, or, perhaps, better fitted 

 to impress his mind with a favourable idea of the inhabitants. Of late years 

 the north of Britain has shown a wonderful improvement in this respect ; so 

 that now it is no uncommon thing to see detached cottages, and cottage-rows, 

 embellished with flowering shrubs and odoriferous creeping and clinging 

 plants ; while, in many of the towns and villages, spaces of ground, formerly 

 unoccupied, and really a nuisance, are now set apart for the growth of 

 shrubs, and ornamental and forest trees. In not a few of the newly sprung 

 up villages of Fife and elsewhere, a space is lined off, in front of the houses, 

 for the reception of such plants as the occupiers may be pleased to treat the 

 public to ; and sorry are we, when we find any of these desecrated to cu- 

 linary purposes. In passing through a manufacturing town lately, we were 

 gratified to observe a beautiful plant, the Arbutus Jndrachne, surrounded by 



