Many historians of recent years have argued that in the 19th century, in many countries of the European continent there was a famine caused by a crisis in the agricultural sector due to a worsening climate. Is this so?
Let's pay attention to such an industry as gardening. In general, the matter is common, they have been engaged in it since ancient times, any self-respecting citizen in Europe had a garden near his house, and the size of this garden was determined by the size of his social status. Among the highest nobility, the area of gardens was measured in hectares. In general, gardens were planted not to pick apples in them (picking fruits was not the main purpose of growing a garden), but for landscape design, and in addition to plants, sculptures, architectural structures and fountains were also placed in the gardens. One of the examples of such gardens is the gardens of Versailles considered earlier. In general, without exaggeration, it was a masterpiece of that era. One small BUT - not a single Versailles engraving of that time has any hints of growing plants in artificial climatic conditions, i.e. in greenhouses or greenhouses. Furthermore,According to any engravings throughout Europe (including the Russian Empire), there are no such greenhouses or even their similarities at all. Although there is a lot of historical evidence that greenhouses were widely used as early as the late 18th century. A domestic example of such a technical miracle of that time is the greenhouse in the Kuskovo estate of Count Sheremetyev, which has survived to this day.
On the official website of the Kuskovo estate museum, there is evidence that the products grown in this greenhouse were supplied (neither more nor less) to the royal court of Catherine the Great, i.e. it turns out that the greenhouse was built in the 18th century. In addition, the park itself was laid out at the same time after the model of Versailles. A very interesting story, but it lends itself to great doubts over the years. If we take into account that Muscovy until 1812 lived by itself independently of St. Petersburg and Europe as a whole (a lot has already been written on this topic), then it turns out that the Romanovs (or Holstein-Gottorp) were exactly near Moscow an island of its own territory, roughly like the Kaliningrad region now. And it was built in the European style. Of course, it wasn't quite like that. The greenhouse was built no earlier than the 19th century, it even has an earthen drift of the basement floor,like all old buildings, it is not visible. But this is not actually about this, but about how such a unique object at that time, like a greenhouse, could function in principle. As we know, plants need heat, water and sunlight for normal growth. The latter two do not present major technical difficulties for the latitude of the middle zone, but it is difficult to maintain heat in a large volume of premises for a cold winter. But since the greenhouses were made, it means that somehow this technical problem was solved. But as?The latter two do not present major technical difficulties for the latitude of the middle zone, but it is difficult to maintain heat in a large volume of premises for a cold winter. But since the greenhouses were made, it means that somehow this technical problem was solved. But as?The latter two do not present major technical difficulties for the latitude of the middle zone, but it is difficult to maintain heat in a large volume of premises for a cold winter. But since the greenhouses were made, it means that somehow this technical problem was solved. But as?
As you can see, in the greenhouses, the life of the plant world was boiling quite successfully. And the volume of the greenhouses was quite large. And even in some places there were fountains. Only very strange plants at the top, I wonder how they were watered? And nowhere is the presence of traditional heating devices - stoves or radiators visible. No wonder, in 1856 there was already water and steam heating, as well as Ammosov stoves, which were the prototypes of modern supply chambers. Obviously, the grates in the floor are the very outlets for the heated air into the room. Taking into account that there were no pumps for supplying the coolant at that time, its movement was carried out in a natural way due to the difference in the densities of the heated and cold coolant. Well, now imagine how big the boiler room should be,to maintain a temperature regime that is comfortable for plants in a given volume around the clock. Presumably, its size would be large, and the height of the chimney would be commensurate with the height of the greenhouse itself. There is also an interesting photo of the late 19th century greenhouse.
Promotional video:
Here, the working volume is even larger, and the grates in the floor are not even visible. How was such a large volume heated? Ironically, next to this photo in the materials somehow appeared to be a photo of the greenhouse outside, and there were strange artifacts on it. Stop. We start to think.
These are clearly not chimneys, but in general, well-known devices for generating electricity from the atmosphere. There is not a single similarity of a chimney even close. But how did it all work? Obviously, the electricity generated in the pillars was somehow converted to heat. Actually, it is not difficult if there is a powerful source of electricity.
Many of you, after reading this, will say that this is probably an isolated incident. Let's take a look (everything is clickable).
There are no stove pipes at all, but there are strange devices on the columns of the structure.
Same.
It is noteworthy that the plan shows a heater (Ammosov's stove), but no pipes are drawn. Obviously, this heater was heated (if it was at all) clearly not from burning firewood.
It even indicates steam heating inside the greenhouse, but again there are no hints of a boiler room. The same strange devices on the roof.
Similarly, and everywhere there are dates for the commissioning of such greenhouses. Suppose an artist could simplify his work and not draw a pipe on one engraving, but why are they not at all? Another interesting case:
Pay attention to the utility network below. Judging by the fact that only the supply goes into the building from the pumps, but the return does not come out, then this is nothing but the supply of water for irrigation (it actually comes out of the ground in the pipe). The architects do not even bother with heating systems in this building and do not draw.
In total, we have that in the 19th century there was a wide variety of energy systems that were used quite widely in agriculture, in this case to create greenhouses. In the 20th century, all this was destroyed and erased from human memory. Who needed it and why - alas, this is a rhetorical question. We return to the greenhouse of the Kuskovo estate. This is how she was in 1950. Compare with the previously shown modern photo.
As you can see, the Bolsheviks, in their manner, demolished only those parts of the structure that possessed the secret of generating electricity. Then they were erected back in a sham style, but rather for beauty.
But it all ends someday, and our transmission continues. Do you think such energy systems were used only to create greenhouses? Of course not:
This is a gardener's booth (for some reason in the Russian Empire one-on-one trade booths were made according to such a project). The bars on the windows, like the bars in the temples, indicate that there was an electric field inside. Why it was needed there is difficult to say, maybe for lighting / heating, or maybe for meditation.
This is an aquarium, possibly for breeding fish, perhaps a regular swimming pool.
This is the hotel's greenhouse. Plants are depicted growing clearly unusual for Paris.
This is a garden gazebo, also weird.
This is an incomprehensible structure, but it shows a section of the apple of the dome. Look, exactly the same apples are used in domes on temples. The purpose of both of them was apparently identical.
The materials also contained similar drawings of a hippodrome and several variants of rural houses with completely identical engineering systems on the roof. Now, at best, only the remains of such structures can be found. Alas, the most interesting thing was stolen at one time.
And instead of a cherry on a cake, I will attach two more plans for music kiosks.
A banal question - why did this kiosk need electricity? If you look closely, then this is the very generator of reference oscillations, which were then brought to end users with the help of wireless poles. And finding an orchestra with light and music in it was most likely a secondary task.
So doing landscape and agriculture in the 19th century was probably much more interesting than it is now.
P. S. The thought persistently creeps into my head that the systems of atmospheric electricity not only created heat in greenhouses, but also stimulated the growth of plants by some unknown property. As you know, there are southern plants that cannot be grown at northern latitudes even in greenhouses, and this is not about heat, water and light. In 19th century prints, everything grows in greenhouses, and like in the jungle, which is very strange in itself. Apparently, there is still some component of the conditions for the normal growth of plants, which is not present in northern latitudes, but technically this problem was easily solved in the 19th century.
Author: tech_dancer