436 Recollections of a Gardening Tour. 



grounds at Corehouse is Corra burn, situated in an improved 

 glen with a succession of waterfalls ; the steep banks richly 

 clothed with rhododendrons and other evergreens alternating 

 with smooth lawn, and the whole overhung with lofty spread- 

 ing oaks and Scotch elms. 



All these improvements, and others of a similar kind, may be 

 effected without the addition of new plants ; but the greatest 

 addition to natural woody scenery consists in introducing, 

 among the native plants, such exotic kinds of trees and shrubs, 

 and especially evergreens, as are suitable to the soil and locality. 

 Hence the immense improvement that has been made in natural 

 woods by the introduction of rhododendrons, common and 

 Portugal laurels, mahonias, box, holly, junipers, and similar 

 evergreens, as substitutes, in part or wholly, for the native un- 

 dergrowths, which are chiefly deciduous. It is not an easy 

 matter to introduce plants of deciduous trees and shrubs, of any 

 kind, into natural woods or plantations already advanced so far 

 as to be 20 or 30 feet in height, because young deciduous plants 

 require much more light than young evergreens : but deciduous 

 trees may frequently be budded standard high on trees already 

 growing there ; for example, in every part of the country there 

 are common thorns, sycamores, oaks, elms, and ashes, and on 

 these some scores of kinds might be budded or grafted. At all 

 events, this might be done with upwards of sixty distinct sorts 

 of thorn, plants of which can be purchased from the nurserymen, 

 or cuttings obtained from the Horticultural Society ; and nothing 

 can be more ornamental on the outskirts of a plantation, whether 

 when they are in blossom, in May, June, and July, or in fruit, 

 red, black, green, or yellow, from July to Christmas. 



All the natural woods at Corehouse abound in wild herba- 

 ceous plants ; and in early spring the primrose, and afterwards the 

 wild hyacinth, the stellaria, and the foxglove, form fine masses 

 of colour : but the effect of the numerous wild plants here has 

 been increased, to a degree which the botanist alone can value, 

 by planting and sowing among them many kinds of perennials 

 and annuals, including the hardier bulbs. 



The artificial plantations, formed where no trees grew before, 

 have made extraordinary progress, in consequence of the soil 

 being naturally good and being deeply trenched ; but, like most 

 others in this part of the country, they have not been sufficiently 

 thinned out and pruned. 



We cannot pretend to describe any part of Corehouse in 

 detail, though, from the kind hospitality of the proprietor, we had 

 an opportunity of looking over the grounds for two days ; but 

 the extent of the walks and the variety of the scenery are so 

 great, that to do so would require either a longer period, or the 



