THE 



GARDENER. 



JUNE 1873. 



COWAIT'S PATENT COMPENSATING SYSTEM OF 

 HEATING. 



NY system of heating hothouses which will at the present 

 time mitigate or lessen the expenses connected there- 

 with, ought to, and no doubt will, meet with every 

 consideration while coal is so enormously enhanced in 

 price. AYe have much pleasure in directing particular attention to 

 a system combining the production of lime and the heating of 

 some considerable extent of forcing-houses, which has for some 

 time been in operation in the gardens at Drumore in Ireland, and 

 which is the invention of Mr Cowan, the intelligent gardener there. 

 This new system consists of a lime-kiln and an ordinary hot-water 

 boiler combined, by which the usually wasted heat of the former is 

 efficiently applied to the latter, of which fig. 12, kindly lent to us by 

 Mr Cowan, will at once give our readers a clear idea. It represents a 

 transverse and vertical section : a is the chamber of the kiln for lime- 

 burning ; ^ is a lining of fire-brick ; c a backing of sand to conserve 

 the heat ; and / is the boiler placed over the mouth of the kiln to re- 

 ceive the heat generally wasted in the process of lime-making. The 

 outside of the building may of course be stone or brick as most con- 

 venient. The two at work at Drumore are built with stone and faced 

 with cement. They are both inside the garden, and look quite as neat 

 as any ordinary hot-w^ater apparatus can possibly be. Mr Cowan of 

 course admits that it would be more convenient to have them outside 

 the gardens, were that possible ; but there need not be anything unsightly 

 connected with them in anj position whatever. The patent does not 



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