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JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AMD COTTAGE GARDENER. 



[ November IS, 1868. 



of doing so must have differed widely from that which Mr. 

 Martin has brought into notice ; besides, the class of structures 

 to be heated— glass houses— constitute altogether a fresh fea- 

 ture. As this system of heating is at once simple and capable 

 of being adapted to most, if not all, places requiring heating, 

 many persons will, no doubt, be anxious to become acquainted 

 with its leading features, and these I will endeavour to state. 



The glass structure to which Mr. Martin has applied the mode 

 of heating alluded to forms the comer house of a range of lean- 

 to graperies placed against the north wall of a kitchen garden, 

 of which the ground has a considerable fall to the south. The 

 position of the house is certainly favourable to its heating well, 

 as a good brick wall forms its northern and western sides, and 

 another glass structure heated in a different way adjoins it on 

 the east side. In width it is middle-sized, the front being about 

 4 feet high, half glass and half brick, and its mean length about 

 27 feet. The aspect is, I believe, nearly south, but the west wall, 

 pointing to the sun at about 2 p.m., exhibits a considerable de- 

 parture from the rectangular form, at the same time this in- 

 creases the period of the sun's heating power ; so that as a whole 

 the houseis well situated for attracting solar heat, and likewise 

 for retaining that which is communicated to it by other means. 

 What these are I shall now proceed to describe. 



While the house was in course of being built the whole of 

 the interior was excavated about 3 feet, or a little more, below 

 what was to be the floor line ; brick pillars, !i inches square 

 and nearly as high as the floor, were erected all over the area to 

 he covered, at distances of 3 feet 9 inches apart in one direction, 

 and rather less thanS feet in the other. These pillars or propa 

 were to support the floor, which was simply composed of three 

 thicknesses of ordinary flat roofing-tiles bedded rather thickly 

 in cement, and resting on the brick piers ; a framework o"f 

 hoards supported the floor until the cement had become set, 

 when it would carry any reasonable weight that might be put 

 upon it. Under this floor there is the heating chamber, so 

 contrived that the whole of the former is made available for 

 heating the house— in other words, a fire applied underneath 

 the floor imparts sufficient heat to the atmosphere of the house 

 above. The thickness of the floor is from 2} to 3 inches. Fur- 

 ther, Mr. Martin has carried the hollow work outside of the 

 house, and has heated what might in ordinary circumstances 

 he called the Vine-border to the width of G feet or more, the 

 hollow work being exactly of the same kind as that underneath 

 the house, only, I believe, there was some contrivance for shut- 

 ting off the heat from the outer border when not required there. 



The outer border, when I saw it, was cropped with various 

 vegetables in the course of forcing, and I believe the results 

 have been very satisfactory. Vines had not been planted, but 

 in some glass cases covering a part of the border Strawberries 

 and early vegetables, such as Dwarf Kidney Beans, Radishes, 

 &c, I was told, had been very satisfactory. 

 _ In the interior of the house a bed had 'been formed upon the 

 tiled floor, and Pines were planted, and some of them promised 

 well. Flowering plants and other subjects occupied the re- 

 mainder of the house, which did not differ from others, except 

 in the mode of heating. 



So well had the system answered, I was told, that Mr. Martin, 

 with the view of carrying out the principle on a larger scale, 

 had erected a similar heating apparatus in the open air, or 

 rather the same mode of heating was applied to a plot of 

 ground protected not by glass but by some moveable frames. 

 The means adopted were these :— A plot of ground, 4;", feet 

 square or more, was levelled by excavating the earth on the 

 upper side ; pillars of brickwork, 9 inches square, or perhaps 

 9 by 14, were erected about 3 feet apart all over the plot, and at 

 the outside of all a close wall. The pillars were about 2 feet 

 high, and level at top. Temporary planks were then placed 

 all over the plot, so as to be as high as these pillars, and on 

 them three courses of common roofing tiles were laid, with a due 

 proportion of Portland cement between tbem, the whole form- 

 ing a solid floor. I believe the planks were allowed to remain 

 a few days before they were withdrawn, and most likely a week 

 or two would elapse before this floor was covered with earth, 

 in order to allow the cement to harden. I ought to add that 

 the outside walls were carried about a foot higher than the 

 floor to keep the soil in position, and in one or two places a 

 trap-door was fitted into the outside wall to afford access to the 

 chamber underneath. The fireplace was at one corner, where 

 the nature of the around allowed of its being easily reached ; 

 Rncl a ' See it was, capable of burning any kind of 



fuel, and the stump of a good-sized tree would not have choked 

 it up. A chimney, about 10 feet high, at an opposite coiner, 



completed the heating apparatus, there being a damper in the 

 chimney to check undue draught. I ought also to state that 

 on two sides of the square lean-to pits of the ordinary descrip- 

 tion had been erected, and these were heated in the same way 

 and by the same fire. I understood that by means of dampers 

 the whole or the greater part of the heat could be thrown into 

 the pits if required, or turned on to the much larger open space. 

 These pits were occupied by Cucumbers, &c, and I believe there 

 was au intention of trying Pines in them. Perhaps there might 

 be some ingenious yet simple contrivance underneath, to insure 

 an equal distribution of the heat supplied by the fire all over 

 the space it had to act upon, but I am not sure ; certain it is 

 that in the heated chambei the tiles embedded in cement 

 formed the roof, while the natural earth formed the bottom, 

 and the fuel employed was anything that would burn. 



Mr. Martin's object has been to obtain all the heat possible 

 from the material consumed, and having obtained it, to apply 

 it so as to insure the least possible waste. Impressed with the 

 fact that heat always tends to ascend, he felt that applying it 

 under the floor was the best way to secure his object. He only 

 claims credit for restoring a very old mode of heating, not for 

 inventing a new one. It is, he says, older than the Christian 

 era, for Roman dwellings were warmed in this way. 



From what has been stated, it would appear that hypoeanst 

 heating deserves to be considered in comparison with other 

 modes of wanning horticultural structures, or, what is equally 

 important, of heating a large space not covered in at all, so as 

 to impart to the earth that genial warmth, which, whether 

 natural or artificial, exercises so much influence on the progress 

 of the plants under cultivation. Of heating with the latter 

 object in view, there was an example extensive enough ; but 

 unfortunately at the time of my visit, towards the end of sum- 

 mer, there had been r.o occasion for fires for some time, and 

 the effects of the heating apparatus would only become appa- 

 rent in the autumn. No doubt every spot that could be covered 

 iu any way would be useful during the winter, and many of us 

 would like such a place for early Potatoes. Radishes, and even 

 Peas and Cauliflowers ; but whether these would be much bene- 

 fited unless covered up, is a problem which the coming winter 

 will doubtless solve. However this may be, Mr. Martin is 

 entitled to the thanks of the horticultural world for the wide 

 departure which he has made from the ordinary methods of 

 applying heat, and for the field which he has thus opened up 

 for further research. Far advanced as we suppose ourselves 

 to be at the present period, it will be humiliating to be told (as 

 time may prove to be the case), that heat was more economised, 

 and more profitably applied, some twenty centuries ago than it 

 is now. 



There is evidently yet much to learn in the mode of consum- 

 ing a given quantity of fuel to the best advantage. In this 

 respect the mode of heating adopted by Mr. Martin would seem 

 to be a nearer approach to correctness than most others, from 

 the thinness of the material intervening between the fire and 

 the atmosphere to be heated iu the case of the plant-house, 

 while in respect to heating a given space of ground, it has still 

 higher claims to attention. Certainly the subject well deserves 

 the serious attention of all concerned in the warming of hor- 

 ticultural structures, or, indeed, in supplying heat elsewhere. 

 — J. Roesox. 



CRATAEGUS PYRAC ANTRA. 



This, usually called " Pyracantha," or Evergreen Thorn, is 

 a plant which attracts the attention of every one at this season 

 of the year. The beautiful coral-coloured berries which it pro- 

 duces in great profusion contrast splendidly with its dark 

 green foliage. It is a plant easily cultivated, and perfectly 

 hardy — two very important characteristics. 



This is another plant which I wish to recommend for the de- 

 coration of the dinner-table. It is readily increased from seed ; 

 or plants about a foot high can be purchased at most nurseries 

 at a cheap rate. A very little trouble will bring them into the 

 shape of pyramids or standards. In the former shape, with 

 berries hanging over the sides of the vase up to the very 

 summit of the plant, they are objects of great attraction. They 

 may be trained in any other way which fancy may dictate ; 

 little globular bushes are very pretty. 



The best way to grow theiu, I think, is to plant them out in 

 an open sunny border, and to lift and root-prune them every 

 season, which will keep them dwarf and fruitful. A few plants 

 can be taken up iu as many minutes, potted, and sent to the 

 dimaer-table, and difficult must they be to please who could 



