Domestic Notices : — England. 213 



Heating Hot-beds by hot Water, in 1801. — A scientific gentleman of my 

 acquaintance [Mr. Williams of Pitmaston] grew fine melons by means of hot 

 water in metal pipes, in the year 1 801 ; and, seeing his success, I followed 

 his example, and raised cucumbers and melons in the same way, for some 

 years. He discontinued his plan on account of the facility which oc- 

 curred to him in procuring tan. I discontinued my apparatus on changing 

 my residence, when I attempted an improvement by the use of a great 

 number of one-inch pipes, which failed after one season, partly from the 

 difficulty of excluding air from them, but principally from sediment in the 

 water supplied to them, without due regard to its purity. But fully satis- 

 fied of the excellence of this plan, in the year 1809, or earlier, I had draw- 

 ings made of it by an architect, adapted to horticultural purposes, and lent 

 them to many persons. — T. N. Parker. Feb. 12. 1829. 



Iron Hot-houses at Woburn Abbey.— We had an opportunity, Feb. 20., 

 of inspecting the hot-houses erecting here, and heated by hot water in a 

 very superior manner, by Mr. Barrow, under the direction of Mr. Atkinson. 

 (Vol. IV. p. 304.) Mr. Forbes informed us that in one of the coldest nights of 

 January last, he determined on ascertaining what a pine stove would lose 

 in heat, between 8 o'clock in the evening and 8 the next morning. January 

 the 25th, at 8 o'clock in the evening, the thermometer in the open air stood 

 at 1.3°, that in the pine stove after the fire was made up for the night at 65° 

 and next morning at 55 . The temperature of the atmosphere in a wooden 

 house, as compared with that of an iron house, in neither of which there 

 was any artificial heat was ascertained, when that of the iron house was 3° 

 higher than the other, owing, as Mr. Forbes conjectures, to the laps of the 

 glass being puttied in the iron house. At any rate, this proves that the 

 loss of heat, by the conducting qualities of iron is but a small matter. 

 Not a single pane has yet been broken in these iron houses, either by con- 

 trattion or expansion. — Cond. 



Lemons and Oranges. — Mr. Skej', of Spring Grove, near Bewdley, 

 Worcestershire, has sent us some very fine lemons of his own growing: one 

 of them weighs 1 1 oz., and two others nearly as much ; and the whole are 

 well-formed fruit. Mr. Skey mentions that he gathered last year 65 dozen 

 of lemons and 45 dozen of oranges. {Extract from Mr. Shey's Letter of 

 March 14. 1829.) 



Bregazzi's Bark-bed Thermometer has been greatly improved, by the 

 addition of a thermometer for the atmosphere in the inside of the small 

 door CVol. III. p. 21 5. fig. 61. a), and by imbedding the bulb of the plunged 

 thermometer in cork or in wood, to neutralise the conducting effects of 

 the case of copper. It is now by far the best instrument of the kind. 



A Self-registering Thermometer has also been produced by Mr. Bregazzi 

 at the very low price of 5s. 6d. 



Mr. James Rollins, late of Dingle Bank, who was among the earliest of 

 our correspondents to establish a garden library, has, we have observed, 

 commenced business on his own account in the neighbourhood of Liver- 

 pool. We have no doubt that in his new capacity he will support the 

 reputation which he has already attained as a serving gardener, and as the 

 author of various papers in this Magazine. The editor of that ably con- 

 ducted newspaper, the Liverpool Observer, expresses {Observer, Feb. 19.) a 

 similar opinion. 



Alodek of Estates. — We have before noticed our own models, and those 

 of Mr. Crowe (Vol. II. p. 232.), made, or to be made, with a view to show 

 the effect of surface improvements. In the National Repository^ Charing 

 Cross, London, is a model of a tract of country in Wales, by R. C. Taylor, 

 Esq., mineral engineer, which not only shows the state of the surface, but 

 that of the substrata. It is an excellent example of that sort of picture 

 wliich one would suppose every very extensive landed proprietor would 



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