34 
THE FLORIST. 
a supply of autumn fruit has been sensibly felt in Scotland within 
these last few years, for the number of visitors who each autumn 
crowd the residences of the nobility and gentry in Scotland is very 
great, and must entail a demand for fruit much beyond what our 
observations lead us to think could be supplied with the means then 
existing ; and the indifferent climate of Scotland renders the production 
of even the ordinary kinds of wall fruit a matter of difficulty and 
uncertainty without the assistance of glass. Thanks to the introduction 
of orchard-houses and glass screens, these difficulties will now no longer 
exist, and the supply of the finer wall fruits may now be depended on, 
even in the extreme north, with as much certainty as in England. 
At Cortachy Castle, the seat of Lord Airlie, in Forfarshire, a new 
kitchen-garden of 3| acres is being formed, including a gardener’s 
house with capital garden offices, and a range of two Vineries and 
a Peach-house 99 feet long by 12 feet wide. There are also 200 feet 
of glass screens, 7 feet wide, in course of construction, to be used as an 
orchard-house for Peaches, Apricots, the finer kinds of Figs, Plums, and 
Pears, which do not ripen against ordinary walls in that climate. The 
trees are trained against the wall, and on a trellis, which runs on the 
front of the house, but not sufficiently high to obstruct the light from 
the trees against the wall at the back; above this trellis a shelf for 
Strawberries runs the length of the house. The house or screen has 
ample means for ventilation, both at the top and front. The designs 
are by Mr. MTntosh. 
AtWhitehill, Midlothian, R. B. Wardlaw Ramsey, Esq., has erected 
a very extensive range of orchard houses, near 200 feet in length, 
forming a large central building, with transept and two wings, of which 
the annexed woodcut gives an outline of the ground plan. 
These houses are placed upon a terrace two feet above the ground level, 
with a gravel walk twelve feet broad running round them, the site 
being the centre of an intended flower garden, to which the design and 
elevation of the group will give an imposing appearance. The houses are 
all span-roofed, from 15 to 27 feet high, glass on all sides, resting on a 
2| feet ashlar parapet, in which, between the piers, are placed rough 
plate glass ventilators, 12 inches by 15, which open and shut simulta¬ 
neously by machinery. The sides and roof are glazed with sheet glass, 
IS inches by 30, set in grooved astragals, without front putty, which 
we think a great improvement. The top ventilation is above the ridge, 
which may be explained thits :— 
The small panels forming the upright sides (a), run on an iron 
rail, and are connected with pulleys to machinery, at the end of each 
divison, so that the admission of air, as well as closing the house, can 
be done at once. The different divisions are heated by hot-water pipes, 
