BOOK III. 



IMPLEMENTS OF GARDENING. 



289 



is that which is furnished with a sucking- 

 pipe ( a), like the fire-engines, by means 

 of which, if there are ponds or regular sup- 

 plies by pipes or wells in a garden, the 

 labor of cariying the water is avoided. 



1 45 1 . The curved-barrel engine (jig. 204. ) 

 has the barrel and piston-rods curved so as to 

 form part of a circle, &c. By this construc- 

 tion, the bore of the barrels may be formed 

 in the lathe, and consequently made perfectly 

 true : the piston-rods move exactly in the 

 direction of the axis of the barrels, and there- 

 fore operate with the least possible friction. 

 For a portable engine this is one of the best. 

 Both these engines would receive great ad- 

 ditional power, by adopting the improve- 

 ments on the syringe by Read. (1419.) 



1452. The self-acting greenhouse-engine is 

 a small vessel of cast-iron, one part of which 



is filled with air, highly condensed by a piston, and the other 



204 



with water, which, by turning the cock, is let out by a spout 

 either as a shower or stream. The machine may be held in 

 the hand, and the stream or shower directed against any 

 particular plant. Instead of water, if tobacco-smoke is intro- 

 duced, the smoke will be driven with great force to a consider- 

 able distance. This machine will throw the water from thirty 

 to fifty feet, but its chief use is in green-houses, for the pur- 

 poses of fumigation, as a plant on the upper part of a stage 

 may thus be fumigated without touching it, or the operator 

 being nearer it than the path. On the whole, it is more an 

 instrument for the amateur than the practical gardener. 



1 453. The carriage water-barrel is used for watering lawns 

 the first season after their formation, when the weather is dry ; 



or for watering borders or other cultivated surfaces near a 1 



broad wall. In the former case, the water is delivered by 

 horizontal tube six or eight feet long, perforated at the lower 

 angle so as to produce a series of horizontal jets ; in the latter, a long leathern tube, ter- 

 minating in a rose, is made use of. The barrel in the first case is drawn slowly along by a 

 horse, in the latter it is nearly stationary, and a man waters on each side as far as may 

 be deemed advisable, or as the leathern tube admits. 



1454. The roller water-engine (Jig. 205.) consists of a horse, frame, and wheels, on 

 which is placed a water-barrel, and under it an iron roller. It is an excellent machine 

 for lawns and roads, as they may be watered and rolled by the same operation. The person 

 who directs the water, irrigating the space to be rolled, not that which has undergone the 

 operation. 



205 



1455. The garden-roller is formed either of wood, stone, or cast-iron. The first requires 

 to be loaded ; the second, from the smallness of its diameter, is heavy to draw ; and there- 

 fore the third, which may be formed of any diameter, weight, or breadth, is generally pre- 

 ferred for garden-walks. The cylinder need not be above four feet wide, which will 

 cover most walks at two or three breadths. For extensive lawns the horse-roller will be 

 preferred. 



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