THE 



GARDENER'S MAGAZINE, 



AUGUST, 1842. 



ORIGINAL COMMUNICATIONS. 



Art. I. Recollections of a Gardening Tour in the North of England 

 and Part of Scotland, made from June 22. to September 30. 1841. 

 By the Conductor. 



{Continued from p. 343.) 



July 29. — Hamilton to Allanton. Leaving the valley of the 

 Clyde, we pass over a tract of land, which, forty years ago, was 

 little better than a moor, but which is now varied by hedge- 

 rows and plantations, and traversed by good roads. The 

 plantations every where want thinning, and the fields draining; 

 but the latter improvement is making rapid progress, and will 

 doubtless end in rendering this part of the country as productive 

 as any tract in the West of Scotland. The walls of the labourers' 

 cottages are generally of stone; and those which are built by 

 feuars, such as carpenters, smiths, weavers, tailors, and others, 

 have the stones squared, and frequently with as smooth a sur- 

 face as those in the walls of Hamilton Palace; yet, with all this 

 care of outward appearance in the building, these cottages have 

 scarcely ever a front garden, or any flowers or flowering shrubs 

 between them and the road. They have, however, generally 

 placed over the entrance door, a stone, with the initials of the 

 husband and wife, and the year in which the cottage was built 

 by them, which it is always satisfactory to see, because we 

 sympathise with the feeling of property and independence which 

 we give the possessor credit for enjoying; and with the wish to 

 participate in these feelings which we conclude to be felt by his 

 neighbours, who, we may suppose, are saving money for a 

 similar purpose. As to the front gardens, they will be formed 

 in due time. If the gentlemen throughout the country were to 

 direct their gardeners to advise with the cottagers with respect 

 to their gardens, to furnish them with a few plants and seeds to 

 begin with, and to look at them two or three times a year, for a 

 year or two, the taste would spread rapidly. This effect would 

 3d Ser. — 1842. VIII. cc 



