20 MISCELLANEOUS INTELLIGENCE. 



For forcing vines, pines, &c, it is admirably adapted ; and, with broader 

 and shallower gutters to produce more moisture, there is reason to conclude 

 that this system will come into general use lor tbe cultivation of cucumbers, 

 melons, &c. For hot-house plants, and particular Ochideas, gutters as broad 

 or even broader than deep, are proved to be must suitable. For ihe green- 

 house it will be of incalculable service. Every description of artificial heat 

 without moisture has been found by sad experience to injure green-house 

 plants, when hard weather has compelled its introduction. To many, and 

 particular to Cape heaths, it is almost certain death ; because the air in frosty 

 weather, containing, perhaps, not one grain of moisture per cubic foot, and 

 raised by fire to 40°, and sometimes even higher, becomes so intensely dry 

 and oppressive, and acquires such an affinity for moisture, even at this low 

 temperature, that the rapid absorption while ihe plants are in a dormant 

 state causes their juices to be elaborated too quickly for their powers of 

 secretion." 



Not content with recommending his mode as the best of all modes for 

 heating houses in which plants are grown, Mr. Corbett makes a long quota- 

 tion from Dr. Ure's article published in the transactions ot the Royal Society, 

 and, with some variations, in the Architectural Magazine, vol. i. p. 161., on 

 the effects of dry air on the officers engaged on duty in the long room of 

 the Custom House, London ; and he arrives at the followiug conclu- 

 sion: — 



" It is evident, then, that the great desideratum for heating apartments, 

 &c, is, an apparatus capable of circulating, in any direction, and to any 

 extent required, any quantity ot artificial heat without the malaria of the 

 stove and pipes, so as to maintain a genial warmth and wholesome ventila- 

 tion throughout the building. Such a system is now placed before the 

 public, capable of such modifications as to become every way suited to effect 

 these desirable objects; equally adapted to horticultural purposes generally, 

 and to public buildings, offices, and domestic apartments; calculated alike 

 to maintain the healthy and vigorous tone of the animal as well as the 

 vegetable economy ; and on a principle whose operations are more assimi- 

 lated to Nature's own atmosphere than any other method hitherto discov- 

 ered." 



It is quite right that this mode of heating plant houses should, like every 

 other, have a fair trial ; but the idea of heating apartments to be occupied by 

 human beings, with hot water in open troughs, is too palpably absurd to de- 

 serve a moment's consideration. Others, however, entertain a different 

 opinion on this subject to what we do. At a meeting of the Plymouth Hor- 

 ticultural Society, held July 19., the Rev- C. T. Collings in the chair, " a 

 neat model of Mr. Corbett's Hygrothermanic apparatus, for heating hot- 

 houses, &c, was exhibited; an invention which the late president of the 

 Plymouth Horticultural Society, Thomas Woolcombe, Esq., says, " will do 

 more for the advancement of horticulture, than anything which has been 

 produced for the last century." 



The pecnliar characteristic to this invention (for which the Plymouth 

 Society awarded their gold medal) is its completely obviating the disad- 

 vantages usually attending the production of artificial heat; viz., a hot 

 desiccated atmosphere, which elaborating the juices of plants more rapidly 

 than they can be secreted, is always injurious and sometimes destructive. 

 To remedy this evil, which has always been a barrier to the success of ex- 

 otic horticulture, Mr. Corbett produced his apparatus, the actions of which 

 so closely resemble the operations of nature, that an imitation of whatever is 

 required may be obtained 



The machine consists of two connected vessels, a boiler and an upright 

 tube, with a continuation of open troughs or gutters. Heat is applied to the 

 boilrr, the water rises and traverses the gutter, giving out moisture in direct 

 proportion to its heat. The density of the fluid being increased in its pas- 

 sage, it returns again to the bottom of the boiirr, and by this means a 



