BEN 



[ 688 



BEQ 



The boiler and tank are filled with water, 

 and this circulates, when the fire is lighted 

 under the former, by means of two pipes, 

 one from the top of the boiler, and the 

 other returning nearer to its bottom. 

 The expense of pipes, and the danger of 

 their freezing, are avoided ; the fire only 

 requires to be kept lighted for two hours 

 at night, and again for the same period 

 in the morning; the water, when once 

 heated, retaining its temperature for a 

 long time. In a small house, the appa- 

 ratus can be constructed for 5, and in 

 all for less than half the cost of hot- 

 water pipes. The saving in tan and la- 

 bour is also very great. In some places 

 tan costs 19s. per cart-load, and where it 

 is cheaper, the trouble and litter incident 

 to its employment, and the dangers of 

 loss from fungi and insects, of which it 

 is the peculiarly fertile foster-parent, 

 render it objectionable as a source of 

 heat; and whenever the tan has to be 

 renewed, the trouble and destruction of 

 plants are always great. 



" In my new propagating house," says 

 Mr. Bendle, " the tank or cistern is placed 

 in the centre, with a walk surrounding it, 

 so as to enable the propagator with 

 greater ease to attend to the plants, &c. 



" On the outside of the house is a fire- 

 shed, in which the boiler is fixed. The 

 tank, made of wood, one and a half or 

 two inches thick, which I find the cheap- 

 est material, (it also prevents the water 

 cooling so fast as it does either in stone 

 or iron,) may be lined with lead or zinc. 

 Exactly in the centre of the tank is a 

 partition, serving the double purpose of 

 causing the water to circulate, as well as 

 to support the edges of the slates, an 

 aperture being left in the partition, of 

 about two inches in breadth, to allow the 

 water a free passage. The flow-pipe enters 

 near the appendage of the tank, at the 

 mouth of which pipe a piece of perfo- 

 rated copper is placed, as also at the re- 

 turn-pipe, to prevent dirt and sediment 

 from finding their way into the boiler. After 

 everything is properly fixed, the tank is 

 filled with water, which, of course, at the 



same time fills the boiler The tank 



is about four inches deep. Across it, and 

 resting on its sides, are placed slate 

 stones about an inch and a half thick, cut 

 square at the edges. These are fastened 

 to each other by Boman cement, or Aber- 

 thaw lime, to prevent a superfluity of 

 steam from escaping into the house 



Around the edges of the elates a piece- 

 of inch board, about nine inches deep, 

 should be placed to enclose the sawdust, 

 sand, moss, or other plunging material." 

 In the following sketch, for which, as 

 well as for the next, we are indebted to 

 Mr. Bendle, A is a transverse section of 

 Boger's conical boiler ; B is the fireplace ; 

 #, the tank ; c, the flow-pipe ; d, the pipe 

 by which the water returns to the boiler; 

 e, is the hole for the smoke, which, 

 joined to a flue,/, can be made either to 

 ascend the chimney at once, or to pass 

 round the house. 



The next sketch is a Pinery, fitted up 

 with Mr. Bendle's tank. 



It is described as " a very useful and 

 most desirable structure for the growth 

 of the Pine Apple, with a hollow wall, 

 recommended by all garden architects in 

 preference to a solid wall the heat or 

 cold being not so readily conducted as 

 through a solid mass of masonry." Mr. 

 Bendle might have added, that hollow 

 walls are also much drier. Rendle't; 

 Treatise on the Tank System. See STOVE 

 and HOTBED. 



BEKEA'LMIA. The following should be 

 added to Alpinia, instead of forming this 

 genus : 



R. grandiflo'ra (large-flowered). l. White. April. 

 New Zealand. 1822. 



panicula'ta (panicled). l. White. June. N. 



Holland. 1823. 



pulche'lla (pretty). 1. White. June. N. 



Holland. 1823. 



BEQUIE'NIA. (Named after M. Eequien, 



