Steam heating for hothouses

2050. The application of steam to the heating of hothouses appears first to have been attempted by Wakefield of Liverpool, in 1788, and afterwards effectually applied in the vault of a cucumber-house at Knowsley, in that neighbourhood, by Butler, gardener to the Earl of Derby, in 1792. It made little progress till about 1816; at which period it became fashionable, and was practised generally for some years afterwards, though now it has been completely superseded by hot water.