464 



J0XJ5RNAL OF HOETICULTURE AND COTTAGE GAEDENEE. 



[ June 6, 1872. 



and merely sufBciently covered to secure a flue over it. I 

 would use :^-iiic!i pipes on tlio level, and take them all round 

 the house, merely missnif; the dooi-n'ay without any sinking, 

 as the more pipes are sunk the less lieat they give out to the 

 atmosphere of the house. I often advise and ])ractise the 

 sinking of pipes in a trench for certain desu-able purposes, but 

 I never suppose that as much dii-cct heat can be obtained from 

 such pipes as from those fuUy exposed. 



These mutters being attended to, I see no objection to the 

 Hist pruposal, to fix your stokehole and chimney on the left- 

 hand side of the doonvay — that is, in the noiih-west comer. 

 In tliis case I would advise that the pipes be carried along the 

 west, south, and east sides as far as the doonvay, raising them 

 to that point, say, 3 or 4 inches, place an air-pipe there, and 

 have both pipes on a level, the one the flow and the other the 

 return. 



As there seems to be more room the furnace might be equally 

 well fixed at the south-east comer ; but instead of sinking the 

 pipes as " C. A." proposes, I would have T pipes fixed in the 

 boiler for the flow and return, and take one set along the east 

 side as far as the doorway, and the other set gomg along the 

 south end and the west side. This plan, though likely to answer 

 equally well, is a little more complicated. 



Gas stoves often do vei-y well, but I have no faith in heat 

 from gas so far as plants are concenaed if the products of com- 

 bustion are not can-ied out into the open atmosphere. This 

 winter I had too good proofs of what a few hours of gas-burn- 

 ing woidd do, even for illuminating piuT)oses at night. The 

 more impure the gas the worse its effects. I have come to the 

 conclusion , that even for lighting-up plant houses with gas 

 there is no plan so safe as that adopted by some of our great 

 jewellers, who hum the gas in a case outside and cause the 

 light to be reflected inside. 



A common iron stove, with close-fitting doors, about the 

 centre of the house would be far safer than gas ; and if the 

 funnel is kept clean and the ashes are damped before mo\'ing, 

 little dust need be made. StU], such a stove requii-es cai'e,and 

 should have a flat top to have a vessel of water kept on it. If 

 the care can be given, this is by far the cheapest and easiest 

 mode of heating a small house so as to keep out frost. 



The proposed stove boiler as advertised so frequently would 

 be an improvement if it could be so fixed as to be frd from 

 the outside. By adding pipes you could place it at tlie most 

 suitable comer. If without pipes, it should stand at the centre 

 of the house on the east side. Without water-pipes added, the 

 advantage of such a stove is, that the sides, lined with water, 

 rarely become too hot. Even this evil can be remedied in a 

 common iron stove, say 1.5 inche_s square, if the firebox is fixed 

 in the centre and there is 11 or '2 inches all open round it, or 

 if the firebox is lined thi'oughout with firebricks. 



In all such stoves, with or without hot-water pipes, much 

 depends on the working and the close-fitting of fui-nacc and 

 ashpit doors. If I had to heat such a little house with a stove, 

 when once the fire fairly burned I would regulate combustion 

 entirely by the ashpit door. Even in a large house I have 

 found an opening in the ashpit door of 1 inch long and one- 

 sixteenth of an inch wide quite sufficient to keep up a slow 

 regular combustion of fuel, and thus maintain a regular tem- 

 perature. 



Leaving iron stoves and boilers out of consideration, if 

 economy were the object, and the side walls were sufficiently 

 high, I would fix a brick stove on the east side, say 24 to 

 30 inches square, and from 36 to 42 inches in height, to be fed 

 from the outside, the top of the stove to be covered with iron 

 or stone, and the flue to come out at the side instead of at the 

 top, the opening for the flue pipe to be fuUy 12 or 1.5 inches 

 from the top. With such a small brick stove fed from the 

 yard I should have no difficulty in keeping the plants in such 

 a small house safe from frost. A brick stove is just safer than 

 an iron stove, in the heat given off being milder and more 

 continuous ; though a Uttle experience would enable anj'one to 

 do what he Uked with a common iron stove ; and for small 

 houses I venture to say there is no such economical plan of 

 heating as by an iron or a brick stove, merely with a chimney 

 from it and no other flue. The secret in such cheap heating 

 by stoves is to bear in mind that the stove is the resei-vou- of 

 heat, and without even the use of a damper, the free egi-ess of 

 heat must be avoided ; that must be regulated by the air ad- 

 mitted at the ashpit opening. I had an old-fashioned iron 

 stove that had done more than its work before it came into my 

 hands, nevertheless it kept out the frost, except in verj- severe 

 weather, from a lean-to house 75 feet long and 11 feet wide. 



I have a smaller one in its place, not so effective because it is 

 so much smaller. In both cases a horizontal pipe is taken some 

 24 mches from the stove — it ought never to be longer — and 

 that pipe terminates in a sort of cesspool for soot, Ac, and 

 from that a 9-feet 3-inch pipe goes through the roof as a 

 chimney. When a fire is lighted this 0-feet pipe becomes hot, 

 but when it is deshed to concentrate the heat in the stove, l)y 

 leaving just a Uttle opening at the ashpit door I can have the 

 stove very hot, whilst the upper pai't of the pipe chimney is 

 quite cool. , When people try these things they are utterly 

 amazed at what a small iron stove, or a brick stove a little 

 larger, can accomplish. For all small houses, as respects fuel 

 and general heating, there is nothing so economical as a stove. 

 The next most economical mode of heating them is by a flue, 

 and especially if, for convenience, it is placed beneath a path- 

 way. 



" C. A." has a hankering that even for his little house ho 

 should be able to attend to the fire in a snowy, rainy night 

 without being exposed. With more room in the passages and 

 narrow yards he could easily cover that part over and thus 

 protect himself. With the difticulties in his position imd 

 with this desire for comfort, I would lessen the size of the 

 house from 2.5 feet in length into 20. I would make the fire- 

 place at the south end — shut off by a door and glass division 

 — into a stokehole and potting-house, which would hold on 

 shelves numbers of plants, as half the space would do for the 

 stokehole, and when that was covered over the whole space 

 would be at command. The chimney might either be at the 

 south end or the east side — better the former — and a door 

 could open from the greenhouse into this hcathig, potting, and 

 preserving department. A small door at the south end would 

 afford admission to it for the cleaning of furnace, supplying 

 fuel, &c., so as not to interfere at all with the general green- 

 house, and many things might be brought on in this stokehole- 

 greenhouse. 



I have shown that in our- practice for large affairs nothing 

 equals hot water. For small soHtary houses I would never 

 use it, as both in material for heating and the heating medium, 

 it is so expensive, as there is no comparison between heating 

 thousands of feet and some 20 to 30 feet ran. In the latter 

 cases I beUeve that stoves are the most economical. If you 

 add cheapest and best, then I say that a small simple flue is 

 best. Now, in the present case, if I were in " C. A.'s " position 

 I would make pathway up the middle of the 10-feet-wide 

 house. I would shut off 5 feet at the south end, and there fix 

 the furnace, as aheady indicated. I would have the chimney 

 at the middle of the end or east side as most suitable. A 

 boiler and hot water may be used, but I should prefer a simple 

 flue. A flow to the door-way entrance, and back again to the 

 chimney would be ample. Supposing the pathway to be in 

 the middle of the house, I would take that flow and return 

 flue under the pathway, having the sui'face covered with tHes 

 on piu-posc. Two 5 or 6-inch flues would bo ample, a flue 

 from the furnace right round to the chimney. Two bricks on 

 bed, with joints, and thin tiles, and thick tiling over them, 

 would be sufficient. Such flues under a pathway maie it very 

 pleasant to walk upon in cold weather in winter. No heating 

 medium is seen ; and though, after much practice, I consider 

 iron and brick stoves to be by far the most economical mode 

 of heating small detached houses even in these days, yet for 

 single houses not more than oO feet in length, the small flue 

 under the pathway has many conveniences. All the heating 

 is thus concealed. 



If I were going to begin commercially I would do much with 

 stoves and flues, though nothing equals hot water where a 

 large extent of glass has to be heated. Many cannot realise 

 the fact that, though hot water is best for thousands of feet, it 

 may not be equally good for hundreds of feet, because in rela- 

 tive proportions there is no analogous loss in the heat from a 

 small and a large boiler. For many small greenhouses I have 

 no hesitation in saying that to combme neatness, simplicity, 

 effectiveness, and economy in heating, nothing that I have met 

 with will beat the small shallow flue under the pathwaj', the 

 tile or biick of the pathway fonning the top of the flue. One 

 advantage of this mode is, that such a shaUow flue does not 

 rcquh-e a deep stokehole. Thus, suppose that the bottom of 

 the flue is H inches below the level of the floor, that the furnace- 

 bars are 18 inches below the bottom of the flue, and the bottom 

 of the ashpit door 6 inches lower stiU, then a depth of 2 feet 

 8 inches, or a few inches more, would be sufficient for a stoke- 

 hole. 



There have been so many inquiries on thepe matters that I 



