196 VARIOUS METHODS OF HEATING DESCRIBED IN DETAIL. 



pr^ve its worth. Gardeners, amateurs, and all, entered the arena 

 of experiment and discussion. Still its promoters would not 

 flinch from their original position, and, right or wrong, would 

 cram it down gardeners' throats, whether it was digestible or 

 not ; and that, too, without one tittle of evidence in favor of it, 

 except ripe grapes in September, — a period when grapes would 

 ripen themselves, without any artificial heat at all. Yet its 

 cheapness and simplicity were its recommendation, and for 

 some successive winters many went to work Polmaising their 

 hot-houses, tearing down their furaaces, flues, &c., and con- 

 verting- them into Polmaise stoves, hot-air drains, and other 

 appurtenances of Polmaise ; but, after a short trial, and a good 

 deal of plant-killing, they one and all abandoned the sys- 

 tem with disgust. Still, amidst all this dust and dirt, and 

 smoke and gas, created by the cracking of plates and the 

 breaking of tiles, the Doctor maintained his ground, until, like 

 the conquered hero, he was left alone in his glory, in the 

 midst of the wreck and ruin he had created. What seems very 

 strange, he never erected one, or caused one to be erected, at 

 the Horticultural Society's garden, where he had unlimited con- 

 trol, and ample opportunity of so doing ; and those who erected 

 them by his recommendation and advice, were obliged to ac- 

 knowledge them unqualified failures, notwithstanding all their 

 alterations and improvements upon the original plan, which was 

 simply this : — A hot-air furnace is placed behind the back wall, 

 about the centre of the house; immediately opposite the stove 

 there is an aperture in the wall, for the admission of the heated 

 air into the house ; directly in front and above this aperture, a 

 woollen cloth is suspended, which is kept constantly moist by a 

 number of worsted skeins depending from a small gutter, fixed 

 on a frame of wood, which supports both the gutter and the 

 cloth, the lower end of the latter reaching the ground. The 

 cloth is made thicker in the middle, in order to equahze the 

 hent, — an arrangement which is absolutely necessary ; for if the 

 cloth was an equal thickness all over, the centre of the house 

 would be heated to a scorching degree, (by the rush of hot air,) 

 while the ends would be comparatively cold. By means of 

 drains under the floor, the fire-place is supplied with air from 



