305 
unum nomen ad plura trahendum eft, haud 
rara funt. I am, Sir, Your’s, 
Chefbunt, OG. 3, 1802. E. CoGANn. 
——e ee 
For the Monthly Magazine. 
JOURNAL ofa TOUR through SCOTLAND, 
. made in 1798, by JOHN HOUSMAN. 
(Continued from page 275.) 
Tf EDBURGH is a {mall market town, 
in a deep valley, wafhed by the River 
Jed: it 1s the capital of Roxburghfhire, 
and has a gocd town-houfe with a fpire. 
The! market place is fpacious, but mofi of 
the ftreets are narrow and dirty. Buildings 
are chiefly of white freetione, partly co- 
vered with blue flate, and partly thatched, 
Here are the ruins of a fine abbey, which 
feems to have been extenfive; part of it 
has been made the parifh kirk, and is no 
rendered light and neat. 
i Jeave Jedburgh. and continue my 
journey to Melrofe, which is eleven miles 
difant. The road foon quits the vale, 
and conducts me over a rifing ground on 
the left for two miles, when the vale of 
. ‘Tiviot again opens before me, fti!l more 
extenfive and beautiful. As I defcend to 
the Tiviot; whofe waters have juft-been 
fwelied by thofe of the Ale, a fine cultivat- 
ed country, with the windings of the river, 
prefents itfelf and extends towards Kelfo. 
which is not many miles to the right. 
Je hills in this difriét are law, and cul- 
tivated generally to the top: farms are 
darge; a gravelly loam is the molt preva- 
Jent foil, and the turnip and barley cul- 
ture is chiefly purfued. In this diftriet, 
however, lob{ferved fome good wheat. I 
alfo here noticed more wocdland and trees 
‘than had lately occurred within my view. 
A pleafant feat of Sir John Scott, called 
Ancram Place, is right before me, and is 
furrounded with a large colle€tion of the 
fineti old trees I have yet feen in Scotland. 
‘Tnefe are moftly beeches, elms, limes, 
chefouts, and oaks. Rent of land in this 
vale 1s from 1§s. to 21s per acre (Englith) 
on Jarge farms; and 30s. ta sos. per acre 
for {mail parcels. Leaving the vale cf 
Tivict, I go ncrthwards: the foil changes 
to a fort of clay; fallows are fubfituted 
for turnip crops, and wheat for barley. 
‘The’ furfacé very uneven, which makcs 
the road difapreeable. - Many tracts of 
barren and uncultivated land intervene: 
that in a ftate of nature is principally cc. 
vered with ling or heath, but the farmers 
are proceeding rapidly with its culriva- 
tion. Extenfive plantatiots of Scotch fir, 
intermixed with larch, frequently oceurson 
thefe barren heats, and feem to thrive. I 
"Houfinan’s Tour in Scotland. 
[Nov. 1, 
fuppofe they have been planted about ten 
to fifteen or twenty years fince ; and it is 
worthy of remark, that the larch overtops 
all the other trees, not only here, but in 
every other place within- my obfervation. 
In this part of my tour, I frequently 
have a view of the country to a great dif- 
tance, which has the appearance of a 
wild defert, emerging progreflively from 
its original barrennefs, and putting on 
the {moother garb of cultivation. The 
hills for feveral milesround are much hum- 
bier than thofe at a greatér diftance, ex- 
cept the Eitden hills juft oefore me. The 
horizon on the north ard weit is bounded 
with high but heavy-looking mountains. 
As I approach the Tweed, the foil in- 
creafes in fertility, and the country in 
beauty: that noble river at length ap- 
pears, and nearly at the fame time the 
ruins of Dryburgh Abbey on its northern 
banks. A mile or two further up the 
Tweed brings me to the pieafant village 
of Melrofe. The foil in this seighbour- 
hood is for the moft part of gravelly loam : 
farms are generally extenfive, and the tur- 
nip fyftem prevails. The Eilden ills on 
the fouth are high eminences, and far over- 
top all the others within view. ~“lowards 
their tops, the furface is covered with 
heath and fhiver, but they are cultivated 
round their bafes. The vale is diftin- . 
guiihed by the courfe of the Tweed : its 
furface and breadth ‘are irregular, but the 
foilis generally very fertile, and lets at from 
IOS. to 50s. per acre. A range of moun- 
tains bourds each fide, the fronts of which, 
and even fome of their tops, are now im- 
preved, and bear altonifhiog crops of corn, 
turnips, clover, &c. The foil is indeed 
better and deeper than that which covers 
moft hills of equal height in England. 
In plowing the fides of thefe eminences, 
the farmers have adopted a mode different 
from any I ever faw: they plow them di- 
agonally, and find it much eafjer for the 
horfes. The greateft difictlty in tilling 
thefe declivities is conveying thereon the 
lime’and manure. ‘That, however, they 
contrive to do by means of diagonal and 
winding roads. the farmers in this part of 
the country {sem well! informed, and good 
acriculturifts. The fields are in neat or- 
der, and the counry in a progreffive ftate 
of imp:ovemeit. Farms are generally ex- 
tenfive ; fome even contain upwards of 
2000 acres; but in thefe are included 
large elevated fheep-walks, Melrofe is a 
{mail neat market-town, not larger than — 
many villages, and fituated ona tra€t of 
gcod land by the fide of the Tweed. 
Here is one’ of the fineft ruins in the 
i *  ifland 
