FIRES WITHOUT SMOKE. 
81 
simple turning of a screw. This furnace is a species of argand-burner, supplied by- 
many jets of flame, that may be depressed till they appear like so many small blue- 
balls, or raised till they bedome a circle of intense fire. From some experiments 
recently undertaken, we have proved that an extremely small portion of ignited 
charcoal (say three ounces) will heat an apartment or a greenhouse, twenty-four 
feet long, so as entirely to counteract the influence of frost. One of these new gas 
stoves, without any of the trouble attendant upon charcoal, would supply ten 
times the volume of radiated heat ; but as the charges of the gas factors are very 
heavy, it may be doubted whether it would be economical to introduce gas into 
small forcing houses at the present charges. We therefore have another object in 
view, and now beg to direct the attention of noblemen, gentlemen, and the pro- 
prietors of extensive forcing departments in general, to a mode of independent 
operation which we saw adopted in a very extensive factory at the earliest period 
of gas-lighting. 
The noble works of Chatsworth, for instance, might be made to furnish a strik- 
ing and most brilliant example ; why may we not indulge the expectation ? it 
would enhance their glory. 
A gas furnace and apparatus complete would be constructed at a very moderate 
outlay, and in the vicinity of the collieries would be supplied with fuel on the most 
economical terms. The cubical dimensions of every house being calculated, and the 
maximum degree of heat ever required ascertained, gas stoves might be intro- 
duced of appropriate size, and these would be easily rendered in the highest 
degree ornamental. Thus every one would be rendered independent of the works ; 
and — to say nothing of oil gas, the galvanic power, and other masterly discoveries 
now only in embryo, but which assuredly will be revealed and made available — 
the ordinary coal gas would be rendered the efficient agent of heat in every branch 
of ornamental or forcing horticulture. This heat could be at command, ever ready, 
capable of reduction, of amelioration, or of the highest exaltation. The retort 
furnace of distillation would produce smoke from the first fire, but there it would 
end ; all beyond it, all its product, all its branches, would be so many instruments 
of supply ; every product of the coal, or lime used as a purifier, would be useful to 
the garden or its fences ; the coke would be consumed as fuel, and the pure gas 
would be the source of heat without smoke. The chemical results of the combus- 
tion are watery vapour and carbonic acid, both useful to plants. In a word, we 
perceive nothing but unqualified good, as respects those large establishments 
wherein the expenses are now enormous. In smaller places, the consideration may 
not as yet be of moment, but the time is not far distant when the progress of science 
will lead to the development of some equally effectual method of improvement. 
vol. v.— no. lii. 
M 
