August 10, 1676. ] 



JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 



123 



last a sort of compromise was made, the stronghold was given 

 up, and the Kennedy of that day engaged to be on his good 

 behaviour. The fort was levelled to the ground, but in a little 

 while a far stronger hold was erected on the mainland. Before, 

 however, it could materially interfere with its neighbours more 

 peaoeable times arrived, tmd a massive ruin alone testifies to 

 a strength long since departed. 



The family of Dalrymple has made for itself a name, not 

 merely as the possessor of broad acres, but as having been 

 borne by men of eminence in various walks of life. JameB 

 Dalrymple, the first Viscount Stair, was a man of philosophic 

 mind, and his work, " The Institutions of the Law of Scot- 

 land," remains to this day the guide of Scottish lawyers. 

 John Dalrymple, the second Earl of Stair, was born in 1673, 

 was a companion of Marlborough, and hold high command at 



the great battles of Oudenarde, MalplaqU6t, and Ramilies. 

 He was afterwards sent on a diplomatic mission to France, 

 which he conducted with success and in a style of great mag- 

 nificence. It was of him, I think, that Louis XIV. said he 

 was the truest gentleman he had ever seen ; for once on 

 their setting out together the king motioned to him to enter 

 the carriage first. This he did at onee ; one who was not a 

 true gentleman, the king remarked, would have held back. 

 But he has more olaim on our notice from his having been a 

 good horticulturist, and during twenty-two years devoted him- 

 self at Newlieton to the pursuit of gardening and its sister 

 agriculture. He is said to have planted groups of trees to 

 represent the positions of the British troops at the victories in 

 which he had been engaged, and he w«s the first to plant 

 Cabbages and Turnips in the open fields in Sootland. Another 



Fig. 15. — Castle Ivennldi - — lough inch castle. 



mau of note was Sir David D -Irymple, Lord Hales, who was 

 the author of several works on jurisprudence and also of Beveral 

 volumes of poems ; while yet another able member of the 

 family was Alexander Dalrymple the hydrographer, who was 

 much engaged in the Eastern Archipelago, and whose charts 

 were for a long time of much authority. The present Earl 

 seems to have inherited the gardening tastes and business 

 habits of some of his ancestors, and as the property has greatly 

 increased he has been enabled to do much. 



In order to understand the position of the plaee and its 

 general character it is necessary to say that the two places of 

 Castle Kennedy and Lough Inch, although in one demesne, 

 are essentially distinct in character, and have wisely been kept 

 so. Castle Kennedy has for its surroundings a walled garden, 

 which, however, is very much in the way of the view, and will, 

 it is most probable, be erelong removed ; while another garden 

 lower down in the grounds and quite out of Bight serves the 

 purpose of supplying the family with its requirements in fruit 

 and vegetables. All around this are to be found treea of con- 

 siderable size, and an immenee series of grass terraces, of 

 which fourteen miles in length have to be kept in order. The 

 ruined Castle is situated on an eminence between the two 

 lochB ; and at the bottom of it, and in the hollow between it 

 and the other eminence on whioh thepinetum is mainly placed, 

 is a smaller piece of water, a sort of American valley for Rho- 

 dodendrons, Azaleas, Kalmias, &a. With regard to the more 

 modern part it is to be remembered that thirty-five years ago, 



when Mr. Fowler undertook the duties of gardener, there was 

 nothing but a barren, waste ; bo that Lord Stair and he, work- 

 ing hand in hand, have had the pleasure of seeing the place 

 growing under their fostering care. It already is one of the 

 most interesting places I have ever seen, and in another gene- 

 ration will be something for our grandchildren to see and talk 

 of. Between the pinetum and the Castle there is a piece of 

 waste ground, or rather undressed ground, which will probably 

 some of these days be altered, while at the side of the Castle 

 is the very beautiful parterre arranged in the present style of 

 gardening, represented in the engraving. From the Castle a 

 fine view is had of the White Loch, with its heronry on the 

 island, the pinetum, the old ruins of Castle Kennedy, while 

 Lough Inch lies beneath — the whole encompassed by a line of 

 mountains, low indeed for Scotland, and not of the " stern 

 and wild " character which is said by Scott to mark Caledonia, 

 but carefully planted in some places, in others affording cover 

 for the grouBe and blackcock. 



It was on the morning of a lovely July day, the very per- 

 fection of a day for seeing mountain sceDery — a fresh breeze 

 blowing, and fleecy olouds oaBting their shadows on the moun- 

 tains, that Mr. Fowler kindly met us in his "machine," the 

 name always given to a carriage here, and drove us round 

 the park, thus giving us a general view of the place. We 

 entered by a neat and unpretending gate and passed some 

 good clumps of Conifers, Ac, carefully placed, while cot- 

 tages belonging to the gamekeepers, &c., are studded about, 



