252 
WINTER REPOSE OF PLANTS — DECEMBER. 
To do justice to this subject, and his own personal feelings, the writer lays aside 
for the moment the editorial form, and assumes that of the first person, since he 
is called upon to justify the practice and memory of a good man. 
Mr. Meek, of Nutfield, in Surrey, is no more. His decease was particularly 
noticed in the " Gardeners' Chronicle " of October 24th. I knew Mr. Meek per- 
sonally, though slightly ; but being near his residence just as the fine weather of 
last May came in, I visited him, and was at once admitted to his full confidence. 
Prejudiced up to the very moment against the system, as it had been previously 
detailed, almost to nausea, I discovered, ere five minutes had elapsed, while seated 
in his elegant drawing-room, that it became my chief duty to listen to the flow of 
eloquence that proceeded from the lips of a scholar and a gentleman, zealous to 
enthusiasm, and assuredly convinced of the truthfulness of the theory which his 
mathematical principles had enabled him to develop e. It was not until he had 
laid open his views upon radiation, and sketched upon paper the form and direction 
of the passing rays, thus rendering it clear, almost to positive demonstration, that 
air itself was its own best medium of temperature, altogether independent of any 
visible heated surfaces, that he attempted to introduce me to his erections. 
We at first entered his stove, fully described by Mr. Meek in his article " Ob- 
servations upon the Polmaise Method of Heating Garden Buildings," Journal of the 
Horticultural Society, vol. ii. pp. 49 to 71. This hothouse, 28 feet by 17, was 
covered with a span roof facing north and south, not steep. The furnace was erected 
at the east end, where the wall was carried up to the span ; on the two sides and 
western end upright sashes met the glazed roof. The three outer walls which 
supported these sashes were left with twelve openings to act as ventilators for fresh 
air from without, the number of which to be left open or closed, being governed 
by existing circumstances. The pit for hot air, comprising also the flues or drains 
for the passage of the low situated cold air of the entire hothouse, was above 22 feet 
in length by 9 feet in breadth. 
I saw this house and its furniture in May ; the day was warm and sunny, but 
there had been fire over night, and therefore its effects could be correctly appreciated. 
The plants plunged were, I believe, chiefly the Jamaica Pine ; they had not been 
long potted or introduced, and were in a full growing state. Finer or more healthy 
foliage could not be expected; the collection upon the shelves was miscellaneous, 
including some orchids. Nothing could be more promising; health appeared in 
every part and member : nor was this surprising when we consider the soft genial 
state of internal atmosphere, capable of perfect regulation by the action of warm 
air through the pit, or of cool air from without. 
After an attentive survey of the hothouse, its warm air and plunging pit, the 
furnace, and all visible appliances, I left it, and we proceeded to view the model and 
projected improvements of the greenhouse. These would be important, and perhaps 
were carried into effect ere the decease of Mr. Meek : that event, however, precluded 
the possibility of a contemplated visit about the beginning of winter. To those who 
