In The Rear Of The Conservatory
Are A Vinery, A Peach And Apricot House; Like The Conservatory, All Span-
Roofed And Divided Off In Several Compartments, Heated By Steam-Pipes And
Furnaces, With Stop-Cocks To Retard Or Accelerate Vegetation At Will.
On
the 31st May, when we visited the establishment, we found the black
Hamburg grapes the size of cherries; the peaches and apricots
correspondingly advanced; the cherries under glass quite over.
One of the
latest improvements is a second flower garden to the west of the house, in
the English landscape style. In rear of this garden to the north, there
existed formerly a cedar swamp, which deep subsoil draining with tiles has
converted into a grass meadow of great beauty; a belt of pine, spruce,
tamarack, and some deciduous trees, thinned towards the south-west, let in
a glimpse of the St. Lawrence and the high-wooded Point Levi shores,
shutting out the view of the St. Lewis road, and completely overshadowing
the porter's lodge; out-houses, stables, root-house, paddocks and barns
are all on a correspondingly extensive scale. We have here another
instance of the love of country life which our successful Canadian
merchant likes to indulge in; and we can fancy, judging from our own case,
with what zest Mr. Burstall the portly laird of Kirk Ella, after a
toilsome day in his St. Peter street counting-house, hurried home to revel
in the rustic beauty which surrounds his dwelling." Such was Kirk Ella in
1865.
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