17 



STEA:^^ APPAEATUS. 



In an age when steam has almost revolutionized the commercial 

 interests of the world, we need not be surprised at its application to the 

 pm-poses of horticultm-e. The fct attempt to accomplish this appears to 

 have been made by "Wakefield, in 1788, but of the success of his plan we 

 have no certain record. Its first successful apphcation was made in 1792, 

 by Butler, then gardener to the Earl of Derby ; but it was not till about 

 1816 that the pr'bcess of heating by steam became at all general. About 

 that time the forcing-houses in Kensington Gardens, those of the Messrs. 

 Loddiges, of Hackney, and others equally extensive, were heated by this 

 means ; and where an extensive range of houses is to be heated, or where 

 it can be applied to other pm-poses, as is done by Mr. Gray, of Homsey, 

 we have no hesitation in advocating this metiiod of heating. This gentle- 

 man, by the aid of two boilers, a large and small one, (the latter to be 

 used when the least heat was requii'ed) warmed in his garden ten large 

 hot houses, the largest of them five hundred and fifty feet distant from the 

 boiler, and containing in all above fifty thousand cubic feet of aii'. Be- 

 sides this, the mansion, farm-yard, and out-o:^ces were also heated at the 

 same time. 



Among other proofs of the advantages of steam, we may state that 

 the uniformity of the heat is such, that the tubes close to the boiler 

 cannot be heated beyond two hundred and twelve degrees, while, at the 

 distance of one or two thousand feet, or, indeed, any definite number 

 of feet, nearly the same degree of heat may be foimd. 'We have already 

 noticed that this is the principal advantage of heating by steam. The 

 secondary advantages are the economy of fuel and of labour, and the pos- 

 sibility- of keeping the whole hot house department in neat and compact 

 order. Instead of a number of farnaces, stock holes, and other ordinary 

 modes, by tliis method the whole may be confined to one chamber, 

 which may be placed at a sufficient distance to be completely hidden 

 from any pait of the garden, and, instead of a number of chimney 

 tops, each giving out its column of smoke, only one will be necessan', 

 that being so contrived as to be hidden from the principal walks and 

 points of view. In addition to these, may be added the small space occu- 

 pied by the steam pipes compared witli smoke flues ; and then- capability 

 of passing under foot paths, over door ways, and similar obstructions, 

 which smoke flues cannot be expected to do. 



A prejudice in favoui* of steam seems to have arisen as soon as its 



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