402 HORTICULTURAL TOUR. 



Mr Hay had not above half an hour to take the princi- 

 pal lines of the plan and section, so that it was necessarily 

 done in a hurried way : indeed, none but a person habi- 

 tually practised in such matters could possibly have accom- 

 plished so much ih so short a space of time. 



The roof of the back part of the building is not visible 

 to those standing in front ; but the range of windows 

 marked s, immediately above the glazed roof, being situate 

 near the top of the building, it seems probable that it is a 

 flat lead-roof, as delineated in the section ; and from thence 

 the view must be very extensive and delightful. — The 

 pipe that conveys the water to the rock-work, and the 

 drain that carries it off, were necessarily hid ; but from the 

 nature and position of the fountain, they must be situate 

 nearly as represented. 



Although we have spoken with general praise of these 

 large hot-houses, yet we would not be understood as re- 

 commending such structures to our friends at home. The 

 objection consists chiefly in placing one house immediately 

 before another, so that the front of the north house be- 

 comes the back of the south one. It thus necessarily hap- 

 pens, that the plants in the north house are greatly depri- 

 ved of light ; in fact, they can enjoy free light only from 

 the roof-glass, the light from the south being intercepted 

 by the foliage of the plants in the front-house, and by the 

 double glass-frames through which it must pass. Such 

 united hot-houses may answer pretty well in the neighbour- 

 hood of Paris, where shade is so often desirable ; but cer- 

 tainly they arc not calculated for the latitude of Edin- 

 burgh. 



While Mr Hay was engaged in examining the struc- 

 tures, Mr Macdonald and I took a view of the plants con- 

 tained in them. The collection is still very rich, although 



