IN SCOTLAND.
331
drawing (see the Plate) and the following description, howfar I have succeeded in improving both :
“ The hinged, or hind upright, or post, is drawn 6 inchesbroad and 3-| inches thick; and the lore-upright 24- broad,and may be '2|. thick. The upper rail should be the samethickness at each end; the other rails may bo 1|- inches thickat the hind post, and 14- at the fore one. The middle-up-right must be 3 inches thick, to receive all the rails, and is14- inch broad. The diagonal, rising from the hind-upright,must correspond to the thickness of that post, the middle one,and top rail, for the same reason that all the rails pass throughit. That diagonal and the middle-upright have both shorttenons into the upper rail, and are jointed, as in the drawing.The diagonal rising from the middle-upright may be check-ed into the rails, and fixed with nails, and is likewise jointed,as represented. The nearer a diagonal brace can be broughtto the perpendicular, the more weight will it carry. I havetherefore preferred one supporting the top rail at the middle,to one running the whole length of the gate. This diagonalso completely supports ours, that we almost never add theother, rising from the middle-upright. It however preventsthe rails from bending downwards from the middle, gives adegree of uniformity, and adds little to the weight. Thehinges are of cast-metal; the bottom one runs in a whinstone,and the centres are in the line of the post next the rails, sothat nearly the whole weight of that post acts as a counter-poise to the rest of the gate. The tenons of the rails in thehind post, being 6 inches long, can scarcely give way ; but toprevent this altogether, a strap of plate iron is put round attop, and secured by two fastenings to the top rail. If thepillar upon which the gate hangs be stone, the top hinge islet into it, and batted with lead, as shown by dotted lines;and if of wood, it must be sunk into it, and fastened by twostaples embracing it at top. The fastening is a common lift-ing sneck and catch ; but in place of lifting up at the forepillar, and rising over the catch, it lifts by the ball B, and