THE TANK MODE OF HEATING. 



209 



by the dotted lines, as also the connection 

 between them and the tanks. In general 

 this arrangement is good, and it may be 

 extended or curtailed to suit existing 

 circumstances. There are, however, some 

 objections to it. For example, the parti- 

 tions a a, instead of being of brick, should 

 be of wood, and portable — that is, capable 

 of being taken out and put in, as may be 

 required. The ventilators in front are 

 placed too high : they should be brought 

 in close to the ground-level, and discharge 

 the cold air immediately over the tanks, 

 provision being made for the air thus 

 heated to ascend into the pit. The boiler 

 also should be placed within the pit for 

 the economy of heat; and the space over 

 it, instead of being covered with a glass 

 sash, should be covered with slate or 

 boarding. The pits are also too narrow ; 

 instead of being only 4 feet wide, they 

 should at the least be 6. The boiler is 

 very properly placed in the centre ; and 

 the idea of covering the ventilators with 

 zinc, if perforated, is also good. The 

 adoption of Messrs Burbidge and Healy's 

 metallic tanks is also good, as they may 

 be made to act either as close water-pipes 

 or open gutters, according to the degree 

 of humidity required. The main for con- 

 ducting the heated water to 

 the extremities of the pits, as 

 well as the returning main un- 

 der it, for the return to the cold 

 water of the boiler — it will be 

 seen in section — is laid in a 

 chamber without the pits, and 

 is neither covered over, nor in 

 any way prevented from giving 

 out the heat by radiation. This 

 should have been guarded 

 against, by enclosing them in 

 a perfectly dry drain, and sur- 

 rounding them with sawdust, 

 charcoal, or some other non- 

 conducting material. These 

 are all omissions, the rectify- 

 ing of which will be readily understood 

 by those practised in pit-building and 

 heating. 



It should be remarked that Mr Lyons 

 is an amateur, and of course wishes to 

 have various degrees of heat, to suit the 

 different purposes for which his pits are 

 intended. In this he has succeeded very 

 completely; and, upon the whole, has pro- 

 duced a set of pits highly creditable to 



VOL. I. 



his inventive genius. We have had the 

 pleasure of being in correspondence with 

 Mr Lyons for some years, and know him 

 to be a gentleman of great worth, and 

 ardently devoted to horticulture ; and 

 we are certain that these remarks will be 

 taken by him in the same spirit in which 

 they are given. 



The annexed fig., 27 9, is a section of a 

 Fig. 279. 



pine-house heated upon the tank princi- 

 ple, in the garden of Colonel Baker at 

 Salisbury. The tanks a are of wood, 

 covered with slate, as will be seen by the 

 plan, fig. 280. Two of them are flow- 

 troughs, and the third the return. Around 

 Fig. 280. 



and above these tanks is a stratum of rough 

 rubble stones, and on this the mould for 

 the plants is laid, (for they are planted 

 out.) To economise heat, the flue, after 

 passing round the boiler, is made to run 

 along the whole length of the back foot- 

 path e, and to return again under it to 

 the point from which it started ; and the 

 smoke, accompanied of course with very 

 little heat, ascends the chimney above the 



2d 



