No. 6. DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE. 787 



fashioned Hue, for a better draft is thereby secured, which is a very 

 necessary accessory in the lieeping up a good fire to heat to the de- 

 sired temperature; and, besides, a cellar is a great convenience in 

 which to store, when possible, the a\ inter's supply of coal. 



There are several methods of heating, but three only need be con- 

 sidered at this time. What is known as the old flue system, which 

 is practically a furnace with the chimney running nearly horizont- 

 ally with a gentle rise to the further end and the whole length of 

 the greenhouse and sometimes back again, the heat being given off 

 in transit, and thereby warming the house. This was the first 

 method of warming greenhouses, and when only one greenhouse 

 to be taken care of this is certainly the cheapest plan of all; and 

 where a variety of plants, coming from the different quarters of the 

 globe, are to be grown this plan offers more variations of tempera- 

 ture to suit same in a given length of house than any other, that is to 

 say, without special preparations are made with hot water or steam 

 with that end in view. We, however, do not recommend the flue 

 system for heating greenhouses, as it has some grave disadvantages, 

 the principal one of which is the liability of deleterious gases es- 

 caping from the flue into the greenhouse, and plant-life suffers in 

 consequence, so much so that crops have been known to be total 

 failures bj the damage done to the leaves and flowers. 



Hot water as a heating medium is perhaps the very best method 

 of heating a greenhouse establishment in a small way that can be 

 devised when the structures occupy not over 25,000 square feet to 

 heat, because requiring less frequent attention than does steam. 

 The main advantage of hot water over steam is. that there is not the 

 same necessity of having a fireman up all night to attend to the fires 

 as when hot water is used, because so long as there is a handful of 

 fire in the furnace there is sure to be some heat in the water; w^here- 

 as, when steam is used, just so soon as the fire is not hot enough to 

 make steam, then the pipes immediately become cold and on a freez- 

 ing night damage is likely to result, either by the frost entering the 

 greenhouses and killing the plants outright, or by so chilling them 

 that many weeks might elapse before they fully recovered. 



When, however, a greenhouse establishment has twenty-five thou- 

 sand feet or over, it is better to use steam and employ a night fire- 

 man, and the right kind of a man who is willing to do other work dur- 

 ing the night, especially in mild weather, can find lots of little jobs, 

 such as washing flower pots, putting in cuttings, and sometimes 

 even potting could be done. Great assistance can be rendered by 

 the nightman in the early morning by assisting to cut and pack the 

 flowers for market, which in establishments of any pretensions, are 

 shipped at least once and frequently oftener, every working day in 

 the year and sometimes on Sundays. Flowers, being perishable, the 

 quicker they are disposed of the better. 



