THE LADIES MAGAZINE OF GARDENING. 
319 
been neglected, and where the trees are consequently deprived of the full 
advantage of the sun and air. We found here American Rhododendrons 
and Azaleas growing in loamy soil; and we were told by the gardener, a 
very intelligent man, that when imported they were sent over in yellow 
loam. 
In the villa gardens between Dalhousie and Edinburgh we found many 
specimens of the balsam poplar, always in a thriving state; while the 
Lombardy poplars, throughout the whole district we had been traversing, 
appeared in a dying state. 
August 6 .—Edinburgh to Kinross .—The road from Edinburgh to the 
Queen’s-ferry is lined with villas, but we deferred visiting them till our 
return from Stirling; we therefore proceeded direct to the ferry, which 
we crossed in a steam-boat, and pursued our way through a romantic 
country commanding beautiful views. 
Blair-Adam was the first seat we visited after crossing the Forth, and 
we approached it through a most romantic dell, completely shaded with 
large trees, principally spruce and silver firs, Scotch pines and larches, 
some with straight trunks, from fifty to seventy feet high, and others 
bent into the most fantastic shapes. The house is a kind of cottage, 
beautifully situated, and the kitchen-garden was literally a blaze of 
beauty. Large beds of Gladiolus cardinalis »presented masses of colour 
of the most dazzling brilliancy. In a space about twelve feet by seven 
feet there were no less than five hundred spikes of flowers; and the other 
beds were all flowering with the same profusion. The plants are growing 
with extraordinary luxuriance, and the great secret of their culture appears 
to be to leave them to themselves. Mr. A. Mackenzie, the gardener, who 
is an exceedingly intelligent man, told us that when he wishes to form a 
new bed, he takes'up a ball or cluster of the bulbs or corms, from one foot 
to two feet in circumference, and places it in a bed about two feet wide, 
putting a little sand under and between the bulbs, which are slightly 
loosened, but not separated from each other, and planting them two or three 
inches deep. When the bed is long, two or more clusters may be planted, 
a clear space of a foot wide being left between each cluster. The first two 
winters the bed is covered with a layer of dead leaves, about two inches 
thick; but as soon as the bulbs have spread and taken firm hold of the 
soil, they are left without any protection whatever, and they flower 
splendidly every year. A bed planted with the bulbs separated from 
each other, and put into the ground singly, only produced two flowers; 
while the other beds, which were planted with the bulbs in clusters, are 
covered with bloom. The Hon. and Rev. Wm. Herbert, whose skill in 
the management of bulbs is so well known, grows all the kinds of Gladi- 
