260 



A CHAPTER ON GREEN-HOUSES. 



running up like stairs, entirely out of the 

 reach of one's nose, arms or fingers. Do 

 j'ou not see, also, that you can very well 

 water and take care of every plant yourself, 

 if you are really fond of such things ? Very 

 well ; now let us look a little into the way 

 in which we are to keep this little place of 

 pleasure always warm and genial for the 

 plants themselves. 



In the first place, we must inform our 

 reader that we are not to have either a fur- 

 nace with brick flues, or a boiler with 

 hot water pipes. They are both excellent 

 things ; but we must have, at present, 

 something simpler and more economical. 



Everybody, in the northern states, very 

 well knows what an air-tight stove is ; a 

 most complete and capital little machine, 

 whether for wood or coal ; most easily 

 managed, and giving us almost the whole 

 possible amount of caloric to be got out of 

 hickory or anthracite. Now we mean to 

 heat our little green-house with an air- 

 tight stove, of good size ; and we mean to 

 heat it, too, in the latest and most approved 

 system — nothing less than what the Eng- 

 lish call Polmaise — by which we are able 

 to warm every part of the house alike ; by 

 which we shall be able to create a continual 

 circulation of the warm air from one end of 

 it, quite over the plants, to the other; and 

 which, no doubt, they will mistake for a 

 West India current of air every evening. 



In order to bring this about, we must 

 have an air-chamber. This also must be 

 below the level of the green-house floor. 

 It is not important under what part it is 

 placed r it may be built wherever it is most 

 convenient. In our plan, {fig. 32,) as there 

 is a cellar under the parlor, we will put it 

 next the cellar wall, so that there may be a 

 door to enter it from this cellar. This air- 

 chamber must be built of brick, say about 

 7 or 8 feet square, (as represented by the 



dotted lines around b.) The wall of thss 

 air-chamber should be two bricks thick at 

 the sides and one brick at the ends, and all 

 smoothly plastered on the inside. The 

 top should be covered with large flagging 

 stones ; and upon the top of these, a course 

 of bricks should be laid, which will form 

 part of the floor of ihe walk in the green- 

 house above. Or, if flagging is not to be 

 had, then cover the whole with a low arch 

 of brick work. 



In this air-chamber we will place our air- 

 tight stove, the smoke pipe of which must 

 be brought back into the cellar again, so as 

 to be carried into one of the chimney flues 

 of the house. There must be a large sheet 

 iron or cast iron door to the air-chamber, to 

 enable us to feed the fire in the stove ; and, 

 in the top or covering of the air-chamber, 

 directly in the middle of the walk, (at 1,) 

 must be an opening 18 inches in diame- 

 ter, covered with a grating, or register. 

 Through this the hot air will rise into the 

 house. 



Now, both that we may heat the house 

 easily and quickly, and also that we may 

 have that continual circulation of air which 

 is so wholesome for the plants, we must 

 also have what is called a "cold-air draiyi;^* 

 it must lead from that end of the house far- 

 thest from the hot-air chamber, and there- 

 fore the coldest end, directly to the bottom 

 of the air-chamber itself. We will put the 

 mouth of this drain in the middle of the 

 walk near the door, at 2, with a grating 

 over it also. This drain shall be simply 

 a long box, made of boards ; and we will 

 have it 1 foot by 2 feet, inside. From the 

 mouth, 2, it shall lead along, in a straight 

 line, just below the level of the floor, to B, 

 where it descends so as to enter on a level 

 with the floor of the hot-air chamber. We 

 will also have a smaller box, or drain, 

 for fresh air, leading from the bottom of 



