44 



THE GARDENER'S MONTHLY 



[February, 



of December, and found the apparatus to consist 

 of a limekiln and an improved boiler. 



The cut taken from Cowan's circular will give 

 the reader a better idea than pages of description. 



This establishment formerly took three fur- 

 naces, and a like number of boilers, to keep up 

 th« heat in the different ranges. Without re- 

 moving the old boilers, these have now all been 

 connected by passing four-inch hot-water pipe, 

 laid in eight-inch terra cotta pipe, from one range 

 to another, under ground, and the whole appa- 

 ratus seemed to work admirably. 



It is claimed for this system that it is compen- 

 sating, because the lime drawn from this appa- 

 ratus can be used for different purposes, also 

 that it requires no night attendance, and is 

 adaptable anywhere that lime-stone and coal are 

 procurable. It is in general use in most of the 

 large establishments of the United Kingdom, 

 both public and private, and in one place, near 

 Liverpool, England, four miles of four-inch pipe 

 are heated by one kiln, which formerly took the 

 united aid of sixteen boilers. 



To Mr. Baird belongs the honor of introducing 

 this system into this country, and I think it does 

 not require a prophet, or the son of a prophet, to 

 predict that this system will eventually revolu- 

 tionize hot-water heating in all large establish- 

 ments. 



[There are figures for reference in the cut, but 

 we have not the copy to correspond. We pre 

 sume, however, the cut is explanatory, in so far 

 as the main principle is concerned. — Ed. G. M.] 



HOT-WATER HEATING. 



we should be very cautious, and consider well 

 the essential points, before we adopt them. The 

 vital points about a good boiler are : 1st, to be 

 capable of burning all kinds of fuel ; 2d, have 

 plenty of heating surface; 3d, the boiler should 

 be so constructed as to give a rapid motion to the 

 water, thereby carrying off the heat from the 

 furnace, so as to save all its heat generated from 

 the fuel. 



Rapid circulation is the very essential thing at 

 present, as many cultivators of plants build 

 greenhouses from one hundred to four hundred 

 feet long, and many times otlier additions to green- 

 houses attached, so the water has to pass through 

 five hundred to eight hundred feet of pipe before 

 it can return to the boiler to take on a fresh sup- 

 ply of heat. We should consider that all heat 

 is generated in the furnace, and the nioment 

 the water leaves the boiler, it begins to radiate 

 its heat, and when it moves slowly, and has parted 

 with the high temperature, it is of but little 

 value in repelling the sharp arrows of frost on a 

 cold winter's night, with the thermometer mark- 

 ing below zero; therefore, I would say, that the 

 boilers are very few that can heat the water and 

 give it a momentum through more than five 

 hundred feet of pipe, boiling until it comes back 

 to the boiler to take on a fresh supply of heat. 

 So a boiler that heats one thousand to three 

 thousand feet of pipe should have separate at- 

 tachments and very rapid circulation, or that 

 portion of the greenhouse over one hundred feet 

 away from the boiler will not be evenly heated 

 with that near by. 



BY J. M. JORDAN, ST. LOUIS, MO. 



Having had considerable experience with heat- 

 ing greenhouses with hot water, I wish to give 

 a few suggestions. 



I have learned that water pipes should be so 

 arranged as to facilitate the rapid motion of the 

 water, and any change in the size of pipe tends to 

 diminish the flow of water. A large stand pipe, or 

 expansion tank, where one pipe enters into and 

 another leaves it, retards the motion ; or where 

 a large pipe is contracted or enlarged also retards 

 the motion. 



All steam generated in the boiler should be 

 used to move the water, but the pipes should be 

 8o arranged that the water could not boil out of 

 the exhaustion tank. On the question of boilers, 

 as new designs are being introduced every year. 



EDITORIAL NOTES. 



Roses for Wintkr buds. — Tlie Garden says 

 Niphetos, Isabella sprunt, and Safrano, are found 

 to be the best to grow for Cov^nt Garden Market. 



Tacsonia ixsignis. — The Tacsonias are closely 

 allied to the passion flowers, and in many re- 

 spects superior to some in beauty. A new one 

 under the above title is among the novelties an- 

 nounced in England. The flowers are large, and 

 of a crimson color. 



Hardiness of the coffee. — The coffee seems 

 a hardier plant than we have been accustomed 

 to regard it. A writer speaks of it as sometimes 

 under snow in coffee countries ; and that it 

 makes a good plant for room culture. 



