114 



THE FLORAL WOELD AND GARDEN GUIDE. 



an inch of tlie water after heavy rains, and the water seldom recedes 

 more than twelve inches from it at any time, even during drought. 

 The first idea was, to take a pipe of extremely small bore (about 

 two inches) along the front of the lean-to, close to the roof, and 

 have a return-pipe of very large bore (perhaps twelve inches) as low 

 down as possible, to heat the border of the house. But this was 

 abandoned, and the plan finally adopted was to carry a four-inch 

 flow and return close together along the front of the house, on a 

 dead level. It was impossible to have a rise ; there was not vertical 

 space enough to do it. 



The diagram will show that the Paxtonian, which is the house on 

 the right hand in the figure, stands considerably above the level of 

 the lean-to ; so we had but to make sure of a fire in the furnace, 

 and the heating of this house was an easy matter. The pipes had, 

 however, to be taken a distance of twenty-five feet from the furnace 

 to the Paxtonian ; and, as this would cause a great waste of heat, a 

 long, trough-like wooden box was fitted to the dwarf wall on which 

 the pipes rested, and they were thus enclosed from the weather. 

 The box was covered with stout shutters clothed with felt, and it 

 became immediately a dark forcing-pit, and has been used ever 

 since, during the winter and early spring, for forcing sea-kale, aspa- 

 ragus, rhubarb, etc. The pipes in this box are of two inches bore, 

 to cause a quick flow, and make the waste of heat the least possible ; 

 but, as soon as they enter the house, they are enlarged to four 

 inches, and thus they pass all round the house, close under the 

 glass, and resting on the borders. The general arrangement may be 

 made more plain, perhaps, by a few simple lines : — 



rr-^ 



:b 



r/- 



-^ 



-^ 



-/y 



■/J 



v^ 



C D 



A, furftace ; B, pipes in lean-to ; C, pipes in forcing pit ; D, pipes in Paxtonian. 



