194 



HEATING AS APPLIED IN HORTICULTURE. 



was the first inventor of this mode of 

 heating, he certainly has the merit of 

 being the first who brought it into gene- 

 ral notice. The tank method is much 

 more economical, and more steady in its 

 operation, than heating by hot-water 

 pipes, where bottom heat only is re- 

 quired; but even its most strenuous 

 advocates must admit, that, for atmo- 

 spheric heat, flues or hot-water pipes 

 must be employed in some shape or other. 



Mr Cameron, in 1830, heated melon-pits 

 at Beaconsfield by placing wooden tanks 

 lined with lead under the mould, into 

 which he introduced a 2-inch leaden pipe, 

 connected with the pipes and boiler that 

 were used to heat the atmosphere of the pit. 



Shortly afterwards Mr Weeks of Chel- 

 sea applied the same principle, by using 

 brick troughs or tanks, through which 

 he circulated hot water in iron instead of 

 leaden pipes. In both cases the tanks 

 were covered with spars of wood laid 

 across them, and about 2 inches apart ; 

 and over this a covering of thick turf, 

 upon which the mould was laid. A more 

 unfit covering could scarcely have been 

 devised. Mr Weeks heated a plant- 

 house for Mr Knight of the Exotic Nur- 

 sery by a hot-water boiler of great length, 

 with which was connected a cast-iron 

 tank 4 feet broad, and extending the 

 whole length of the house, and divided in 

 the middle, causing a flow and return. 

 This tank was formed of plates of iron 

 bolted together, leaving an aperture for 

 the water of about 1 inch in depth. 



Mr Davidson of Stackpole Court heated 

 by tanks, as did also Messrs Beaton, 

 Corbett, and others, long prior to the 

 Plymouth system being made public. The 

 Hon. Robert Clive, about the year 1830, 



heated a 



Fig. 247. 



house up- 

 on almost 

 the same 

 principle as 

 that of Mr 

 Rendle, as 

 will be rea- 

 dily seen 

 by a glance 

 at the op- 

 posite dia- 

 gram. Fig. 

 247 is part 

 of the sec- 



tion of the house — a the boiler, b b the tanks, 

 c the passage under the bed, d the flue, e 

 the furnace. From the above it will be 

 seen how little this arrangement differs 

 from Mr Rendle's. In principle it differs 

 nothing ; and it would be almost all that 

 is required were the internal passage d 

 dispensed with, saving all the expense of 

 building under the dotted line /. If a 

 supply of cold air were brought into this 

 passage to become heated, and then ad- 

 mitted into the house, all of which could 

 be easily accomplished, we would have in 

 this invention of 1830 the constituent 

 principles of the inventions of 1842, 1845, 

 and 1847. 



Tank-heating was also exemplified 

 years ago by Count Zubow in St Peters- 

 burg, who introduced pipes charged with 

 steam into a large cistern of water, (vide 

 Trans. Hort. Soc, 1820, p. 430 ;) and also 

 in the Bristol nurseries, upon the same 

 principle, shortly after the above date. 

 The Messrs Bailey of Holborn employed 

 triangular troughs, fig. 248, in lengths 



Fig. 248. 



of about 12 feet, and 2 or 3 feet wide. 

 These they attached to the hot-water 

 pipes, with the view of affording due 

 humidity by evaporation. 



Prior to 1842, Mr Green of Cheam had 

 pits in use, heated upon the tank principle, 

 for the culture of cucumbers during 

 winter. Their dimensions are as follows : 

 — The back walls are 5 feet high, the 

 front ones 2^ ; they are 5 feet wide, inside 

 measure ; and all of 9-inch brickwork. 

 A trough or tank is carried along the 

 centre of the bottom in the following 

 manner, and extends the whole length : 

 a floor of two courses of brick is laid in 

 cement, and 2 feet wide ; the sides are 

 formed of bricks set on edge, and properly 

 cemented to hold water. Heat is com- 

 municated by means of 2|-inch pipes, 

 brought from a boiler employed to heat 

 a neighbouring house, and made to pass 

 along the back and front of the pit; and 

 the return-pipes are brought into the 

 trough described above, which is kept 

 either full or partly full of water, as re- 

 quired. The water is supplied by a small 



