40 



THE GARDENER'S MONTHLY 



[^February , 



and most of it will, with the draught, pass 

 through the chimney, and without a draught 

 there is no heat, for the draught supplies ox3'gen, 

 without which no fuel would burn ; and to pro- 

 duce a certain amount of heat, a certain amount 

 of fuel has to be burnt. Has ever an}' patentee 

 ascertained and informed us of how much heat 

 in his boiler is secured to the water and how 

 much of it escapes through the chimney ? Ac- 

 cording to Lavoissier, Laplace, etc., 2,138 lbs. of 

 coal of the best quality are required to bring a 

 cubic foot of water at a temperature of 324'' F. 

 to the boiling point. If, therefore, one afflicted 

 with a " rouser " of a patented boiler will ascer- 

 tain the quantity of water he has to " boil," he 

 can, by keeping an account of the coal he uses, 

 pretty well see how his heater uses him in regard 

 to cost. The next item in this matter is the 

 shape, etlicienc}' and cost of the pipes. Your 

 correspondent says, and so do most of the 

 patentees, "put in plenty of pipe," but they don't 

 say how much that is. One Avho knows how 

 much a big piece of chalk is, may make a pretty 

 correct calculation, but others will have to guess 

 at it. We use our heating apparatus only about 

 half the year, the other half it lies there and 

 nobody thinks of it. Dm'ing the time it is used 

 it suffers very little if at all, but during the time 

 it stands idle the work of destruction, by way of 

 corrosion, goes on day and night, and its result 

 often becomes visible at a time when we can but 

 ill afford to wait for repairs to be made. Another 

 item is that we have to be prepared for an ex- 

 treme, though but short, cold spell, and if we do 

 that, by increasing the extent of pipes, we have 

 too much for the ordinary temperature. The 

 four-inch pipe has been pronounced the best size, 

 because the water to be heated presents a pro- 

 portionate surface for radiation, whilst in a 

 smaller size is too much surface to the water, 

 and in a larger, too much water for the surface. 

 When this is correct, then a pipe forming a sec- 

 tion of a cylinder two inches deep, with a bottom 

 eight inches wide, would without increasing 

 either the quantity of water or the surface of the 

 pipe, both receive and yield the heat faster than 

 a four-inch cylinder. This I would consider an 

 advantage, since there is no radiation downward. 

 It is, moreover, questionable whether cast iron 

 is yet the best and cheapest material for both 

 heater and pipes ; these often laid by ignorant 

 mechanics without due regard to their office, and 

 several narrow upright cylinders put up as expan- 

 sion tanks, with an equal want of judgment, and 



to finish, a return pipe as long as the flow. That 

 hot water has some decided advantages over any 

 other means of heating cannot be denied, but 

 that we have not yet arrived at a point in the 

 construction of the apparatus, beyond which there 

 is no possible improvement is equally true. 



For forcing fruit; flowers and vegetables, also 

 the cultivation of tropical plants, we have to 

 employ artificial heat, not orly to obtain the 

 requisite temperature of the atmosphere, but also 

 and more so to warm the soil, — in gardener's 

 language, to give " bottom heat." In getting 

 heat of the atmosphere as high as wanted, most 

 gardeners have succeeded well enough, but they 

 rarelj' trouble themselves about the cost, except 

 they have to pay for both apparatus and fuel, 

 and but few seem to pay due attention to the 

 application of the heat to their plants. To this 

 important subject the attention of cultivators, 

 professionals and amateurs must be drawn when 

 we expect an advance in our indoor gardening. 

 As none of our present hot water apparatus is 

 serviceable to that end, gardeners have either to 

 rely yet on horse-dung and tanners' bark, or get 

 along as best they can without bottom heat. 

 Here is a field for gardeners to introduce an im- 

 portant improvement, but I fear that, with the 

 poor encouragement they receive at the present 

 time, they will be slow in bringing on a better 

 system of cultivation than we have, if the grow- 

 ing of the commonest cut-flowers and bedding 

 " stuff"" by the hundred thousand may be called 

 cultivation at all. 



It is a subject of surprise to Europeans, seeing 

 our well-to-do gentlemen deprived of the enjoy- 

 ment of gardens for the most part of the year, 

 through the rigor of our climate, take so little 

 interest in the cultivation of beautiful and inter- 

 esting tropical plants. But the}' seem to forget 

 that where there is a horse there can't be a palm, 

 and if the promotion of gardening is to be left 

 to the women, it will always be a smallish affair 

 of calla lilies, portulaccas, and such little things. 

 With a climate so unfavorable to the cultivation 

 of most Summer flowers, but on the other hand 

 superior to any other for indoor gardening, it is 

 doubly to be regretted that we find not one of 

 our many rich men taking a pride in assuming 

 the lead in gardening, and thus, either alone or 

 by association, setting an example to the com- 

 ing generation in the enjoyment of wealth, and 

 showing young America that there are yet more 

 things worthy of a gentleman's interest besides 

 horses, stocks, and yachting. 



