THE BREEDING-ROOM 



39 



may be averted, and other discomforts 

 which wait on a late spring considerably 

 ameliorated. This last is the true object 

 of artificial heating ; not to force birds 

 out of season, but to make the most of 

 them in season — to. combat adverse cir- 

 cumstances by means that most nearly 

 approximate to those employed by Nature. 

 The best means of heating a bird-room 

 is undoubtedly by hot-water pipes that 

 pass along the side of the 

 room, for which the water 

 is kept hot either by a stove 

 or gas jet arranged in a casing outside the 

 room. But as such a construction is some- 



Hot=Water 

 Pipes. 



attached. This apparatus can be heated 

 by oil, and we understand that an automatic 

 oil tank will last from fifteen to twenty 

 hours without re-filling. For ourselves, 

 however, we certainly prefer to use gas. 

 The tubes d d are of welded iron ; c is 

 a copper tank, from which the apparatus 

 is fed ; the water passes from it by means 

 of the fine tube / into the lower large 

 tube d ; a condensing pipe g completes 

 a most efficient apparatus. Mr. Dewhurst 

 says of it : "It constitutes a great advan- 

 tage in the utilisation of hot water for 

 heating purposes, and is constructed upon 

 the principle embodied in the well-known 



MR. H. DEWHURST'S "ECONOMIC" HEATING APPARATUS. 



what expensive, and as all houses are not 

 convenient for equipment of this kind, the 

 working-man is greatly handicapped in 

 availing himself of it. There are, how- 

 ever, some handy hot-water coils which 

 can be arranged in a room for heating with 

 a gas jet which is enclosed in a small copper 

 casing, and has a flue to carry off the 

 deleterious products of combustion. Mr. 

 H. Dewhurst, of West Kensington, London, 

 brought out such an apparatus some years 

 ago known as the " Economic Heating 

 Apparatus," of which he is the sole maker. 

 On this page is an illustration of the appara- 

 tus, and it will be seen that it takes up but 

 little space. It can be stood either down 

 the centre of the room or at one side — in 

 any position, indeed, that is most conve- 

 nient, for it can be fixed anywhere by 

 screwing it to the floor through the flanges 

 at the bottom of the two less, b is 

 the copper casing enclosing the gas jet 

 and boiler, with the circulating pipes c c 



fact that radiated heat is the best and 

 most healthy form of heat. The import- 

 ance of this feature is evident, as the 

 injurious products given off by most heat- 

 ing appliances make the atmosphere un- 

 pleasant and detrimental to health. By 

 reason of the construction of the boiler 

 and cover the heat is generated more 

 quickly than with coal boilers. The ab- 

 sence of dirt, the saving in labour, and the 

 facility of maintaining any desired temper- 

 ature are some of the other advantages of 

 this system which combine to render it 

 superior to a coal fire, while its indisputable 

 hygienic qualities make it superior to any 

 existing gas stove. Without attention and 

 without firing, and consequent risk of 

 over-heating and explosion, a regular and 

 uniform temperature may be maintained 

 for hours at a time, by simply setting the 

 gas tap. Another advantage of the heater 

 is that the boiler can be fixed in an 

 independent position outside the room, 



