PINERIES. 



333 



acquainted with the effects of the rays of 

 light or solar heat is well aware. The 

 absence of front sashes is one of the 

 essential points in Mr Atkinson's im- 

 provements in hothouse-building, so far 

 as economical fruit-houses are concerned. 



The annexed ground-plan, fig. 450, 

 shows a pinery upon the same principle 



Fig. 450. 



as the last, only so far altered as to show 

 the boiler in the centre of the house 

 instead of at one of the ends, as is the 

 usual practice. This plan is sometimes 

 adopted when the pinery is large, the 

 pipes extending towards the front, and 

 circulating both to the right hand 

 and to the left, with reservoirs at each 

 end. A single pipe takes the water to 

 the front, and delivers it into a square 

 box, from whence two upper pipes flow, 

 and the colder water returns again to the 

 boiler in a single pipe placed under them, 

 which cannot be shown in the plan. The 

 intention of the two upper pipes is to 

 increase the radiating surface. From 



the end pipes nozzle ones, b b, branch off, 

 and deliver the hot water into the tanks 

 a a; and after circulating round these, it 

 returns to the boiler through the lower 

 pipe, entering it at c c. In this way the 

 tan or leaf bed is dispensed with alto- 

 gether. This modification of Mr Atkin- 

 son's plan we have exemplified in several 

 pineries built under our direction, both 

 in England and Scotland. As the orifices 

 of the upper pipes open into the square 

 box at d, one or ail of them may be closed 

 at pleasure, by merely inserting a wooden 

 stopper — by which means the heat can 

 be regulated to the greatest nicety, and, 

 with stopcocks on the nozzle-pipes, top 

 or bottom heat may be had as may be 

 desired. When the bottom heat is to 

 be dispensed with, these stopcocks are 

 to be shut; and when the top heat is to 

 be reduced, the stopper is put into the 

 flow and return pipes. The tanks are 

 formed of brick and cement, and covered 

 over, at the height of the breadth of a 

 brick, with Welsh slate or thin pavement, 

 — and on this the plants are set, or planted 

 out in a prepared bed, according to the 

 mode of culture adopted. We may here 

 also remark, that this house may be 

 divided by a glass partition in the 

 middle, and one or both divisions may 

 be wrought at the same temperature, or 

 at different temperatures; or, indeed, one 

 of them may be kept quite cold, if 

 desired. These houses may be extended 

 to a greater length than that shown in 

 the plan. If it be desired to have a 

 passage round the ends and front of the 

 pits, the boiler and pipes may be set 

 lower, and the passage over them covered 

 with iron grating. By increasing the 

 size of the boiler one-third or one-half, 

 100 feet of pine stove may be completely 

 heated, both as regards atmospheric and 

 bottom heat — that is to say, leaving 

 the present arrangement as it is, only 

 carrying out the two ends to the above 

 extent. Thus two pine-stoves, by placing 

 a glass partition from back to front be- 

 tween the two pipes, might be readily 

 constructed. 



Burns pine-house. — The pine-stove at 

 Tottenham Park, Wiltshire, is the inven- 

 tion of Mr Henry Burn, one of the most 

 successful cultivators of both pines and 

 grapes in the kingdom. The internal pit 

 is filled with leaves, into which the plants 



