Corbett^s Mode of Heating. 151 



unless some means of covering is devised, to enable them to bear 

 the severity necessary to produce a favourable season ; they v^^ill 

 then, in common with all others, partake of its benefits. Accli- 

 mating plants is now set down as a chimera. This decision is 

 unwarranted and impolitic, impeding the progress of farther en- 

 quiry, by deterring those who may be inclined to dispute its ac- 

 curacy from making any further attempt. That we cannot do 

 much, is no reason why we should not do what little is in our 

 power. But, in the face of such a declaration, many plants now 

 turned out and doing well would not, fresh imported, exist a 

 month. Many that have been frequently lost to the country, or 

 preserved with the greatest difficulty in a stunted existence, have, 

 now that they are become reconciled to the climate, assumed the 

 luxuriance of weeds. Their natures may remain unchanged, I 

 admit, not so their habits : these are so far changed, that they 

 are brought to respect our seasons, a point of the greatest im- 

 portance gained, which is indispensable ; a native placed in cir- 

 cumstances which cause it to neglect this, is equally susceptible 

 of injury. If plants, in their natures, are immutable, no treat- 

 ment can render them more tender, and cultivation has, I think, 

 in some instances done this. 

 Folkstone. Jan. \Q. 184'1.. 



Art. IV. On Mr. Corbett's Mode of Heating by the Circulation of 

 Hot Water in open Gutters. By J. R.. 



I HAVE never seen Mr. Corbett's plan of heating in operation ; 

 but from the description of it, by himself and others, it appears 

 to be, for many purposes, a very good one, and falls in with my 

 notions about providing plenty of moisture in our artificial 

 climates. For Orchidese, melons, and cucumbers, I should 

 think it excellent ; for stove plants, at certain seasons, equally 

 so ; but, for other garden purposes, its utility must depend upon 

 the power of completely covering the troughs, and regulating 

 the escape of moisture. 



The idea of applying it to dwellings is so perfectly absurd, 

 that such a suggestion in Mr. Corbett's prospectus led me to 

 think his whole scheme chimerical, and even to doubt whether 

 he had ever tried it in any form. For greenhouses, as well as 

 for forcing grapes and pines, it would require two or three years' 

 experience to satisfy me of its advantages; especially for the 

 two latter purposes. Heat is often employed in gardens more 

 to dry than to warm buildings ; as, in greenhouses and late 

 vineries, during damp weather in autumn. It is also necessary 

 to obtain dry heat to ripen the wood of all forced plants ; and, 

 though I have no experience of pines, I do not imagine they 



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