288 
THE LADIES’ MAGAZINE OF GARDENING. 
we had not time to call, we forded the river, directly in face of Abbots¬ 
ford, and proceeded to that celebrated place. I was, however very much 
disappointed in it; as I have frequently been, in places that I had heard 
a great deal of beforehand. People when describing a place that has 
greatly pleased them, generally embellish a little; and the imagination 
of the hearer adds so much more, that disappointment is inevitable. The 
house at Abbotsford, though much smaller than I expected, was very 
interesting; but the garden we did not see, in spite of all our endeavours 
to get admission to it, and we were told that it was not worth seeing, as 
it had been all dug up, and planted with potatoes! The screen which 
divides this unfortunate garden from the court in front of the house is 
very handsome. 
The road to Melrose was a very agreeable one, except as regarded the 
feeling excited by seeing fine plantations spoiling from want of thinning. 
Few things are more annoying to notice, when the mischief that is being 
done is once understood. To see a fine plantation, which we know it has 
cost a large sum of money to make, going to decay for want of thinning, 
when we also know that the trees taken out of it would more than pay 
all the expenses incurred, is absolutely provoking; and I often feel 
inclined to call on the proprietors of these neglected woods to give them 
a few useful hints, forgetting how very unlikely it is that anything I 
could say would have the smallest effect. 
Melrose Abbey is the most beautiful ruin I have ever seen, and the 
manner in which it is kept is perfection. The colour of the stone of 
which the walls are built is a rich reddish hue, which gives a deep warm 
tone to the ruin that adds greatly to its effect; and the ground both 
within the walls and in the adjacent burying-ground is perfectly level, 
and it is covered with a fine smooth turf, the grass of which is kept short 
by a few sheep. Two or three trees which have sprung up accidentally, 
and a plant or two of honeysuckle and ivy, both of the native kinds, have 
been allowed to grow within the walls : but this is all; there has been no 
planting, no training of ivy,—nothing, in short, has been done which can 
take off the attention from the ruin; and the sole purpose for which 
modern art has been exercised is to show, to the greatest advantage, the 
beautiful remains of antiquity. We had also a very intelligent guide, a 
young woman, who said little, and who contented herself with taking us 
to the points which afforded the finest views, and answering our questions. 
We went into the ruins when the sun was yet above the horizon, and we 
remained in them till it was quite dark, watching the beautiful effect of 
the deepening shadows as the light gradually faded away, and at last 
returned to the inn, feeling, for almost the first time since we entered 
