THE ELOEAL WOELD AND GAEDEN GUIDE 167 



PROPAGATING- PIT FOR AMATEURS. 



BY ME. H. HOWLETT, OF WHITWELL. 



|HE accompanying plans represent a suitable pit for 

 amateurs, who delight in having a few choice things of 

 their own raising. Let them not think, on looking at 

 this somewhat prolix plan, that a great expenditure and 

 a vast amount of skill are necessary to realize what is here 

 represented ; for that is not the case, as I hope presently to show. 

 The plans have been designed in such detail in order to simplify the 

 labour of the builder ; and it is estimated that the whole cost should 

 not exceed £20, and, when carried out, would form a complete multum 

 in parvo for the gardening amateur; and, as the amount of the vari- 

 our materials is given, it is hoped that from such data little trouble 

 will be experienced in ascertaining on the spot the exact cost of 

 the erection ; for as prices differ according to the distance the mate- 

 rials have to be carted, etc., a list of prices given here would not be 

 found to answer for every locality. Pig. 1 represents the ground- 

 plan and section of warm-pit, in the back of which is a path, %, a bed 

 for tan or leaves, a, in which roses, lilacs, azaleas, rhododendrons, as 

 well as a supply of hyacinths, narcissus, etc., may be forced during 

 the dull months of winter ; and in summer, achimenes, gloxinias, and 

 many of our glorious stove-plants may be had, as well as a few pots 

 of nice strawberries on shelf b. The roof is a fixture, and ventilation 

 is secured by three openings back and front, each eighteen inches by 

 nine inches c, over which slide boards in a groove, and which are 

 connected together by means of a stout wire, running from one to 

 the other, with a handle at the end, so that all may be opened or shut 

 at once by merely pulling or pushing the handle. The ends of this 

 part may be either all brickwork, or the front wall returned ; and 

 above that may be glass, according to the taste of the builder. The 

 latter would be the best-looking plan, but would cost a trifle more 

 than brickwork. Atmospheric heat is obtained from two 4-inch hot- 

 water pipes d, the flow rising at g, and the return descending to 

 boiler at i, and flue formed with 9-inch drain-pipes. I would here 

 remark that wherever an elbow occurs in this kind of flue, it is well 

 to use a few bricks, covering with a pavement, the removal of which 

 at any time will enable a flue-brush to be got in for cleansing the 

 flue. It is also to be remembered that a flue always acts best when 

 the furnace is sunk considerably lower than the line the flue traverses, 

 otherwise the air stagnates in it, and causes the smoke to rush out 

 at the furnace door. 



Por the heating of these a very small boiler will do, and which 

 may now be had second-hand of the great London hothouse builders 

 for a trifle, as they are removing numbers of them to make way for 

 the "one-boiler system;" thirty-six feet of four-inch pipe, two 

 elbows, one syphon, and a supply-cistern, nine inches square, for 

 fixing at h, will be required for Fig. 1 ; also, two diminishing T 

 pieces, one stop-valve I, one two-inch syphon, and eighteen feet of 

 two-inch pipe, for Fig. 2; a furnace- front and bars may also be 



June. 



