ORCHID-HOUSES. 



409 



pipes placed under the side tables, as so that each shelf holds water, with the 

 seen in section, fig. 561. In the centre is view, as Mr Smith, the excellent curator, 

 a stage formed of pavement, hollowed out informed us, of giving off humidity by 



Fig. 561. 



J g L 



evaporation for the benefit of the plants. 

 On the top of this stage is a walk, which 

 is ascended to by steps at the end. This 

 house appears to have been erected upon 

 similar principles to that of the late Mr 

 Clowes at Manchester. As an instance of 

 the mutability of human affairs, this house 

 now contains the rich collection formed by 

 that excellent gentleman, it having been 

 presented by him to the Royal Gardens, as 

 well as that of the late Duke of Bedford. 



Some peculiarities, and indeed improve- 

 ments, exist in this house, which did 

 not in the other. Under the two top 

 shelves on each side of the passage are 

 placed a system of tanks, aaaa, 9 inches 

 deep, and open at the top, the water 

 rising in the centre of the house from a 

 pipe, which goes across below the path, 

 to supply them. These top shelves are 

 in the form of chambers, having openings, 

 b b, in them along the centre passage; 

 these can be opened or shut at pleasure, 

 according as the state of the atmosphere 

 renders necessary. The shelving in the 

 centre is made of Welsh slate, and fur- 

 nished at the edges with a little bead let 

 in, by which means they may be covered 

 with water when desired. This house is 

 80 feet long and 34 broad. It is heated 

 by two boilers, one or both being used at 

 the same time. There is a capacious 

 tank for water at c under the plant stage, 

 — a very proper and necessary appendage. 

 VOL. i. 



The hot-water pipes are placed directly 

 under the slate shelving in front and 

 back — the worst possible place in which 

 they could be placed, as the radiated heat, 

 ascending upwards and to one side, has 

 no means of ascending into the house 

 at the very part it is most required, 

 namely, between the plants on the side 

 tables and the glass. The only heat which 

 can be beneficial to the atmosphere of 

 the house is that which is admitted on 

 one side next to the passage, some 3 feet 

 from the inner surface of the glass, leaving 

 that space on both sides of the house little 

 benefited by the operation of the pipes. 



The orchid-house of the Messrs Booth, 

 nurserymen, &c, at Hamburg, of which 

 the accompanying, fig. 562, is the section, 



Fig. 562. 



is not only one of the largest, but also one of 

 the best contrived houses, for this purpose, 

 of any we are aware of in commercial esta- 

 blishments. In length it is 103 feet, in 

 breadth 21, and in height 1 1 feet. In form 



3 p 



