652 



GeneniL Notices. 



put in use in heating a house of from 20 to 40 ft. long, 8 or ]0 ft. broad, and 

 from 10 to 15 ft. high, according to the quantity of firing usually consumed. 

 We applied at the foundery that makes tiie various cast-iron vessels for the 

 Apothecaries' Hall (Messrs. Ax\«fv, Ward, and Handyside, m Upper 

 Ground Street, Surrey foot of Blackfriars' Bridge) to make us a boiler, 



v/ith a place for fire in one 

 109 ' ■ 



side of it (as in the annex- 

 ed sketch, /g. 109), cast 

 in one piece, with arms for 

 the going and returning 

 pipes, and with sockets in 

 the arms to receive these 

 pipes. These go to a cistern 

 28 ft. from the middle of 

 the boiler. This cistern is 

 1 ft. wide, 1 ft. deep, and 

 13 in. long, with a wooden 

 cover. The pipes are 3i in., and the whole expense, when fitted up and 

 fixed, was 12/. I5s. 



a. The boiler, 1 ft. deep, and 3 in. wide, b. The arm, with its socket 

 for the going pipe, and it is 1 in. from the top of the boiler, c. The arm, 

 with its socket for the returning pipe, d, The grate at bottom of the fire, 

 resting on a ledge of 1 in., that was cast with the boiler, e. The round 

 bars in front of the fire, which fall inside a ledge of the grate and a niche 

 in the covering of the boiler, which fits exceedingly well, and in all respects 

 looks like a common fireplace in the room, without any appearance of water. 

 The boiler may be of any figure, to suit the fire-place. I am. Sir, yours, &c. 

 — William Anderson. Botanic Garden, Chelsea, Sept. 9. 1831. [See p. 691.] 

 Heating Hot-houses by the Breath of Cattle. — Mr. M'Diarmid, the very 

 intelligent editor of the Dumfries and Galloway Courier, has pointed out to 

 us the following interesting passage, in his paper for Feb. 26._ 1822. He 

 also introduced us to Mr. Armstrong, who has furnished us with the plan 

 which we subjoin to Mr. M'Diarmid's paragraph : — 



" We lately had the pleasure of conversing with Mr. Robert Armstrong, 

 a native of this country, who, after travelling over a great part of the 

 continent of Asia, resided ten years in Persia, and, in returning to Britain, 

 visited Astrachan, Moscow, St. Petersburgh, and various other places 

 of note in the Russian dominions. In the neighbourhood of the latter 

 city, our informant was surprised to find forcing-houses heated on an 

 entirely new plan ; a plan which, although new even in Russia, promised 

 to become quite general. The peculiarity of this plan consists simply in 

 substituting the breath of cattle for the old method of heating by fuel or 

 steam ; and its superiority was evident from the fact, that, in a climate 

 where they have often 24° of frost, vegetables were raised far superior 

 to any thing produced in this country. So far as we understand the plan, 

 the byre containing the cattle is built in the form of a double house, with 

 a partition wall, through which are a number of square holes, opposite 

 the different cribs, leading to the green-house, and which open and shut at 

 pleasure; as the holes are placed a few inches above the cribs, when the 

 animals lift their heads for the purpose of breathing, the warm air inmie- 

 diately finds its way under the glass frames on the opposite side. The byre 

 is, of course, kept very close, and for this purpose is provided with double 

 doors, which are also listed ; in this way the temperature was raised so 

 .high, even with a very limited number of cattle, that the apertures some- 

 times required to be closed, and the superabundant heat carried off by 

 means of a ventilator. A priori^ we might suppose that this closeness of 

 the byres, although beneficial to vegetables, would prove injurious to 

 animal life ; but our informant assures us that the cattle actually throve 

 better, and fattened more quickly, under this mode of treatment, than when 



