176 IMPROVEMENTS IN THE CULTURE OF 



the same time, I was applied to by Sir Hew Ha- 

 milton Dalrymple, Bart, (through Mr. James 

 Dodds, his gardener), to examine his Pine-stoves 

 at Bargany, and to report whether I thought they 

 could be improved, as he hitherto had not been so 

 successful in Pine-Apples as he expected. One 

 principal cause was, the difficulty of obtaining tan. 

 Upon my report, it was to be determined, whether 

 to give up the Pine- Apple culture altogether^ or 

 endeavour to improve the stoves. 



" Upon examining, I advised the heating of the 

 atmosphere of the houses with steam ; and in place 

 of using tan, the heating of the bottom of the plant- 

 pit with steam also." This advice was adopted, 

 and eighteen months after the plan was executed, 

 the gardener, Mr. James Dodds, gives the follow- 

 account of his success. 



" It is now eighteen months since I first began 

 to heat the Pine-stoves here with steam. I have 

 thus been enabled to give it a fair trial, and I am 

 fully satisfied that it is superior to the old method 

 of heating by fire-flues. I have found the plants 

 to grow more luxuriantly, and perfectly clean of 

 any kind of insects. The moist heat arising from 

 steam is well known to be hostile to all kinds of 

 vermin. It is, besides, more economical : our Pine- 

 stoves here are seventy feet long, it formerly took 

 two fires to keep up the heat of the atmospheric 

 air of the house, whereas in the new method of 

 heating by steam, one fire to heat the boiler is suf- 



