TOWN AND SMALL SUBURBAN GARDENS. 



729 



the securing of a healthy atmosphere for 

 the growth of plants, an atmosphere very 

 differently constituted from that of the 

 open air. In fact, such gardens would be- 

 come huge Wardian cases, the air admitted 

 into which would be so sifted, so to speak, 

 that little of the deleterious gases, and 

 still less of that great enemy to town 

 vegetation, smoke and soot, would find 

 their way in. Indeed, an artificial at- 

 mosphere would be created upon the 

 principle for which the cases which bear 

 Mr Ward's name have been so long and 

 so justly eulogised. Detached villa gar- 

 dens, and such as are situated on the 

 outskirts of towns, much less require this 

 protection from intrusion by the curious 

 eye of neighbours, by their cats, which are 

 often intolerable nuisances, and from the 

 effects of a polluted atmosphere, and there- 

 fore may be managed more in the usual 

 manner. 



In regard to expense, we are quite cer- 

 tain that many have thrown away double 

 the amount of money in building up and 

 pulling down badly constructed green- 

 houses and pits, than would have covered 

 in their whole garden, and heated it into 

 the bargain. 



There are, in connection with villa gar- 

 dens, certain appliances which merit a 

 share of our attention. One of these is, 

 the generation of extra heat upon a small 

 scale for certain purposes, as the rearing 

 of tropical seeds, propagation by cuttings, 

 &c. The means employed by Isaac 

 Anderson, Esq., whose name is now well 

 known to most cultivators as the origina- 

 tor of many very curious and really 

 unexpected hybrids, as well as for raising 

 from seeds many new and hitherto un- 

 known plants, are simple in the extreme. 

 At the end of his range of glass-houses 

 nearest to his offices, he has a small inter- 

 nal hothouse or large W T ardian case, which 

 is used chiefly for these purposes. This 

 internal hothouse, if we may call it so, is 

 heated in a very complete manner by a 

 flow-and-return hot-water pipe laid under 

 the sand in which the pots are plunged : 

 these pipes are supplied with heated 

 water from a copper boiler of the capa- 

 city of about half a gallon or so, under 

 which is placed a gas jet taken from the 

 supply of his house, and which can be 

 turned on or shut off at pleasure. To 

 prevent the injurious effects of the ex- 



VOL. I. 



halations from the gas, which are so well 

 known to be extremely hurtful to vege- 

 tation, this enthusiastic amateur has it so 

 arranged that the gas which escapes com- 

 bustion, as w r ell as the products of it, is 

 carried away in a pipe which conveys the 

 deleterious effluvia to the exterior of the 

 building. Such means of heating as this, 

 and that noticed in various parts of this 

 work, will be quite sufficient for the 

 amateur's purpose, and exempt him from 

 the expensive, laborious, and uncertain 

 mode of heating by fermentation — a 

 mode which should never be risked. We 

 have also elsewhere noticed, that where 

 a hot-water pipe can be taken from the 

 back of a kitchen range, or w T herever 

 else a constant fire is maintained, and 

 carried through some conducting me- 

 dium, a sufficient supply of heat may be 

 obtained without the expense attending 

 a furnace, boiler, &c. ; and also that 

 leaden pipes may be employed from 

 half an inch in diameter to 3 inches, ac- 

 cording to the temperature required. 

 Leaden pipes are convenient, because 

 they can be put together with union 

 screws, bent to suit the angles they come 

 in contact with, and be fitted up, al- 

 tered, or removed by a handy labourer. 

 Gas-burning in plant-houses should not 

 be thought of ; but, if applied externally, 

 as described above, to heat water, it may 

 be used with safety and economy. 



No doubt, hot-air stoves, and stoves 

 with or without flues, whether heated 

 by prepared or unprepared fuel, are all 

 very specious suggestions ; but those re- 

 quiring a healthy atmosphere — and who 

 does not? — will do well to avoid them, 

 if they are constructed of metallic ma- 

 terial. Reasons for this will be found 

 in the section Heating by Hot-air 

 Stoves, &c. 



Mr Rivers' modification of Dr Arnott's 

 stove will be found admirably adapted 

 for slight forcing, and for excluding frost 

 from greenhouses during winter. For 

 description and fig., vide page 215. 



As an important improvement on Mr 

 Rivers' original stove, he afterwards added 

 a hot-water boiler and pipes ; and this, he 

 says, "is perhaps the most economical 

 and efficient hot-water apparatus ever in- 

 troduced. It is merely a boiler placed 

 over the fire-box of an Arnott stove, 

 which does its duty most admirably, 



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