THE FORCING GARDEN. 



541 



so as to apply to every position that it is possible for smoke- 

 flues or steam-pipes to be applied to. 



4t this time, the heating, by means of hot water, was as 

 much understood by that gentleman, and a few of his friends, 

 to whom he explained its principles, as it is at this moment ; 

 and, as far as regards the heating of forcing-houses, he had 

 nearly reached the climax of perfection. It would be useless 

 to enter upon a point of controversy, as to the original in- 

 ventor of this useful mode of heating hot-houses, while we are 

 well assured, that the idea not only originated, but was brought 

 to its present state of perfection, by that gentleman. It may 

 be necessary, however, to state a few simple facts, which it is 

 hoped will set this matter in its true light. 



About the time Mr. Atkinson was making his experiments, 

 a somewhat similar idea occurred to the late Anthony Bacon, 

 Esq., and was tried by him in his houses, but without success. 

 We have seen Mr. Bacon's original model, but, from its 

 principle, it was incapable of carrying heat to any useful dis- 

 tance ; and not until Mr. Atkinson directed the arrangement 

 of the boiler and pipes, did it ever answer the desired end, in 

 Mr. Bacon's houses. An account of its success in the Elcote 

 gardens was published in the Transactions of the Horticultural 

 Society, as well as in a provincial newspaper, by My. Whale, 

 Mr. Bacon's gardener, as the plan of his late employer. 



It would, however, have been only candid, had Mr. Whale, 

 if he were aware of it, given in these communications the 

 merit of the invention to the gentleman with whom it first 

 originated. We will not attribute this step, on the part of 

 Mr. Whale, to a wilful wish to mislead, or to bestow the merits 

 of so useful an invention upon one who had only a minor 

 share in it, and that share, however creditable to him, as 

 an experimentalist, was not sufficiently perfected so as to 

 answer the desired end. The death of Mr. Bacon followino- 



o 



soon af>cr the plan was brought to bear, prevents us from 

 having his disavowal of the system as it now acts. Mr. Bacon 

 certainly attempted a mode of heating by means of hot water, 

 but had no idea of it in any other way than merely by heating 

 the end of a tube filled with water, and by which he attempted 

 to heat his houses, without the knowledge of the absolute 



