232 



THE FLORAL WORLD AND GARDEN GUIDE. 



the heat, communicated to this, from the 

 bottom of the tank, and the brick piers p, 

 suffices admirably for forcing mushrooms, 

 rhubarb, asparagus, &c, but as the latter 

 does best in light, sufficiently to colour the 

 shoots, we have not often grown it there — 

 for mushrooms it is admirable. From the 

 front of the tank, to the back wall, about a 

 foot from the glass, is a wire trellis, to which 

 the plants are trained. When the trellisses 

 are not all in use, we turn to use the back 

 wall for greenhouse plants, on moveable 

 shelves, and the return pipe, shown in the 

 section, runs along the lower part of the 

 wall, and gives sufficient heat to force gera- 

 niums, camellias, ; rhododendrons, cytisuses 

 &c, and beyond the tank, we have eight 



two connections with the tank, one at the 

 end nearest the boiler, and one at the end 

 most remote; either of these can be closed, 

 by means of a stop-cock, and if the. fire has 

 been allowed to get low, or if severe weather 

 renders it necessary to get a little extra heat 

 quickly, we generally close one of the taps 

 for a short time, until a brisk circulation is 

 established. There is an extra length of 

 pipe attached to the flow side, to carry heat 

 beyond the tank, into the cool end, but this 

 we seldom use, the return pipe being almost 

 always sufficient. The movement of the 

 water from the pipe, into the tank t, is in- 

 dicated by arrows, and the pipes are dis- 

 tinguished by the letters — F the flow, and r 

 the return. By a little variation of these 

 particulars, such a house as this might be 

 used as an early vinery and peach house ; 

 the back wall and the trellis would afford 

 good spaces for training, and instead of 

 planting in the bed over the tank, it would 

 be necessary to make a border at the back, 

 and use the tank bed either for plunging 



feet of space, which we call the " cool end," 

 and which is heated only by the return pipe, 

 which leaves the tank, and passes round a 

 stage, before it takes a direct return along 

 the back wall, to the boiler. This cool end 

 is also used for greenhouse plants. 



Referring to the outline sketches, it will 

 be seen that the heating apparatus is in the 

 shed where the furnace was originally placed 

 for the flue. We use now only Rogers's 

 boiler, and one mistake we made, was, to 

 carry the flue straight up the wall, instead 

 of taking it round the house, for we might 

 have heated the back wall with it, instead 

 of parting with the fire heat, as we do now. 

 The boiler, &, is in the centre, and the flow 

 pipe leaves it near the top, and the return 

 pipe enters near the bottom.' The flow has 



r\ 



stove plants in pots, or planting them out in 

 it. But to do this, it would be better, in the 

 first instance, to place the tank in the qentre, 

 and have it narrower, so as to allow of a 

 wall and a border, both front and back, and 

 rive the house a width of fourteen feet. 

 Then peaches, apricots, vines, stove and 

 greenhouse plants, and orchids might be 

 grown together, according to the length of 

 the house; if short in proportion to the 

 widtli, the collection would have to be 

 limited, but as it might be of almost any 

 length, from twenty to fifty or sixty feet, 

 such a structure and method of heating 

 would combine more advantages, and be 

 more free of inconveniences, than any kind 

 of house, equally well suited for early work, 

 and the increase of its dimensions would not 

 be attended with a proportionate increase of 

 expense in the first instance ; indeed, a good 

 sized, house costs but little more than a 

 small one, where, in any case, there must be 

 an efficient heating system, and the usual 

 facilities for successful forcing. One objec- 



