MAY. 
93 
wood, so as to bring it in contact with a similar branch of a large and well- 
established Brown Ischia Fig tree, which I had in a house, and I then inarched 
the young tree upon the branch of the old one. I should mention that I 
allowed the old tree to be nearly in leaf before I operated. I allowed the young 
plant to remain till well united to the tree on which it was inarched, and when 
its wood began to get firm, I severed it below the point of union with the old 
tree. I had several fruit in the following season, and the variety inarched on 
the established tree has grown freely and fruited well every year since. 
Dalmeny Park. William Melyille. 
A HOMILY ON GLASS STRUCTURES. 
There are few subjects connected with horticulture that require at the 
present day a larger amount of careful study on the part of the practical gar¬ 
dener than the erection, ventilation, and heating of garden structures for the 
cultivation of plants, fruit, and vegetables. Whilst legislation has of late 
years tended to lower the price of the materials of which these houses are con¬ 
structed, mechanical science has also been brought to bear very successfully 
upon their design and mode of heating, and their possession has therefore been 
brought within the reach of persons of moderate means ; and, besides, the 
peculiar variability of our climate at all periods of the year has rendered it 
absolutely necessary that every well-appointed garden should be supplied with 
structures of this class. With their aid the gardener is enabled to surmount 
all difficulties as to time, place, or climate, and to produce under ordinary cir¬ 
cumstances in abundance the most choice productions, either to delight the eye 
or the palate. 
Without, however, pursuing these preliminary considerations further, we 
will first glance at the principles on which houses for horticultural purposes 
should be constructed. Here it may be remarked that, looking at the general 
character of the houses that have come under my notice, there does not seem to 
be any great partiality shown for one description of design in preference to 
another; and it is very generally found that the houses have been built to 
accommodate themselves to situations, instead of the latter having been accom¬ 
modated to the former. 
Whether it be for stoves, greenhouses, vineries or orchard-houses, the span 
roof, and lean-to will be found equally suitable, if both be supplied with sufficient 
heating power where that is required; but if a handsome and ornamental 
structure is wanted, a span roof is preferable for this object. This kind of house 
is also undoubtedly the best adapted for the growth of handsome and well-formed 
specimen plants; and few objects attract the eye and senses so forcibly as a 
well managed span-roofed vinery with trained fruit trees on each side of the 
walks, the whole being laden with rich, fragrant, and luscious fruit. 
It is not now my intention to discuss the relative merits of the curved or 
plain-slope system; it is enough to know that in all modern erections the old- 
fashioned close bars and sliding sashes are entirely ignored—that rafters few and 
far between, with the intermediate spaces well glazed with good clear glass, so 
as to admit all the light possible, are now the rule; the only drawback to this 
improvement, however, being that when a square of glass is broken, as it will 
be sometimes, it is a large instead of a small one, and the cost to replace it is 
necessarily greater. The best mode of preventing such accidents would be, if 
possible, to make the glass less brittle; but pending such an improvement in its 
manufacture, we must content ourselves with being careful to break as little 
as possible. 
