592 Recollections of a Gardening Tour. 



ful would that avenue have been, had the trees been gradually 

 thinned out or cut in, so as to leave only one third part of what 

 there are at present. Some persons may allege that thinning 

 out the trees would disfigure the avenue for a time; but, by fix- 

 ing on the trees that are finally to remain when the avenue is 

 planted, the others could be cut in as they advanced in growth, 

 in such a manner as to maintain the avenue character throughout 

 its whole progress to maturity. 



The terrace to which we have referred crowns a bank some 

 hundreds of feet high above the Forth. There are a number of 

 lower terraces, slopes, and platforms, of great antiquity, some with 

 stone steps, balustrades, and vases, and among them some very 

 old fruit trees ; two large sweet chestnuts (5 ft. in diameter at 4 ft. 

 from the ground) which ripen fruit every year, and from which 

 large trees have been raised ; five or six cedars, from 50 ft. to 

 70 ft. high, and 3 or 4 feet in diameter ; two Eastern arbor-vitaes, 

 25 ft. high ; and many old yews. The parish church is close to 

 the abbey, and might have been connected with it architecturally, 

 so as to produce a good effect. 



Castle Hill, or JJunimarle, Mrs. Erskine, is a residence on 

 the summit of the same high bank as that on which Culross 

 Abbey stands. It is chiefly remarkable, in a garden point of view, 

 for a new garden wall flued and builtwith towers and battlements; 

 the lower parts of the towers serving as stokeholes for the furnaces, 

 and the upper parts as chimneys to the flues. The appropriation 

 is satisfactory. In front of this wall, and on the verge of a steep 

 declivity to the sea-shore (?), 300 ft. below, there is a broad bor- 

 der, and, next, a terrace walk between two rows of Irish yews. 

 Near the house is a greenhouse, the front of which is formed by 

 a wall made sufficiently high to conceal the gardener when at 

 work among the plants. This feeling on the part of the pro- 

 prietor is not so singular as may at first be imagined : no one 

 likes to come into a room while the housemaids are at work. In 

 the grounds, a portion of the remains of M'Duff's castle is shown, 

 and near it is a tower 60 ft. high, which commands a view of the 

 Forth and the adjacent country, from Stirling Castle to North 

 Berwick Law. The steep bank is covered with fruit trees, among 

 which are some pears known to have been planted a. d. 1600, 

 and of which the particulars have been given in our Volume 

 for 1841, p. 464. 



There are a chapel and burying-ground near Culross with 

 many curious tombs, which we regret we had not time to see; 

 and there are ancient architectural combinations in the town 

 itself, well worth the attention of the architect as hints for com- 

 position. The road to Alva passes Clackmannan Tower and the 

 walls of the Earl of Mar's park, and exhibits some fine views 

 and rich culture. 



Alva ; James Johnston, Esq. A long and rather steep road 



