1893 



GLKAJSilA(J8 IN BliiE CULTURE. 



and guidaiieo; and when each step in the exper- 

 iment has succeeded, there have been many 

 thanks to God uttered while I was alone with 

 the work I loved. When I adopted the plan of 

 j-eturning the same water, so as to use It over 

 and over again, of course I had to have a stand- 

 pipe to allow the water to expand and contract 

 with the changes in temperature. But after 

 putting this in, I found I could not draw from 

 these pipes to water my plants, and a third pipe, 

 running to the hydrant, seemed to be a neces- 

 sity. After some experimenting, and waiting 

 and watching, I succeeded, however, in dis- 

 pensing with the expansion tank entirely. This 

 was done by leaving the valve, which you see 

 near the hydrant, partly open, so that the pres- 

 sure from the windmill tank on the hill con- 

 stantly remains on the whole apparatus; so 

 that, as it is now, you can draw hot or warm 

 water from any part of the house for any pur- 

 pose whatever. By the way. what a line thing 

 this would be for a dwelling-house I You could 

 get hot water or warm watei' from any pait of 



I'aised so little above the surface of the ground 

 that there is not much danger of freezing, even 

 if used for a cold greenhouse. Then the opera- 

 tor can at any time go inside of it and around 

 among the plants, regulate the temperature, 

 gather his product, sow seeds, do transplanting, 

 or any thing of the sort. Such a greenhouse 

 costs but little compared with the structures 

 used by florists, and the glass can be quickly 

 taken off and stored away when the season 

 arrives when glass is no longer needed. 



As it may be of interest to know just how we 

 lay out the beds and paths, we submit an addi- 

 tional diagram. The paths are cut down just 

 deep enough so the workmen can stand upright 

 under the sashes and timbers that hold the 

 sashes. In the highest part, this brings the 

 paths about a foot below the surface of the 

 ground, while down at the south side, where 

 your humble servant stood while he operated 

 the elevating machinery, the path is about two 

 feet deep. The dirt is held in place by means 

 of pine boards nailed to oak stakes driven into 



DI.'\GRAM OF THE STEAM-PIPES. WATER PIPES. ETC . SHOWING OUR NEW PLAN 



GKEEXHOITSES. 



IF HEATING 



If 



, 



En^rine. 



the house where hot-water radiators were 

 placed, or wherever needed, and the supply 

 could come from the regular waterworks. With 

 this system of heating buildings by exhaust 

 steam, the building to be warmed should be 

 some little distance from the engine — say from 

 100 to 300 or 4(X) feet; and if the dwelling were 

 on high ground, all the better. 



The thing that has astonished me so much is 

 the amount of heat furnished by the exhaust 

 steam from so small an engine, with so cheap 

 and simple an apparatus. We are just now 

 considering a similar arrangement to utilize the 

 heat that maybe given off from the exhaust 

 steam from our large 90-horse-power engine. 

 A consid<'rable part of it is already used for 

 warming our factories; but there is a great 

 surplus, Hven at this moment, spouting out into 

 the fi'osty air. 



On the left of the greenhouse you will notice 

 a string of sashes banked all around with coarse 

 strawy manure. This is the new celery culture 

 I have been telling you about. It grew nicely 

 all through the fore part of December. Since 

 our zero temperature, however, I have not dar- 

 ed to take off the sashes. I feel pretty sure, 

 nevertheless, that the celery is all right. It 

 has no steam heat under it, for celery is very 

 apt to rot with much bottom heat. It is a diffi- 

 cult matter to regulate the heat, any way, in 

 hot-beds, during zero weather. On this ac- 

 count I greatly prefer a low greenhouse, some- 

 thing like the one given in the picture. It is 



the ground. The beds are almost half manure 

 for a depth of 12 or IS inches. 



SOWING TURNIPS FOR A LATE CROP. 



I mentioned, a while ago, that we usually 

 put in a sowing of turnips quite late. Well, this 

 season our late turnips grew all through No- 

 vember, and made quite a growth, even during 

 the fore part of December. We some time ago 



PLAN OF PHK BKD.S AND SUNKEN PATHS. 



gathered all we supposed were large enough; 

 but s< eing they were getting to be of good size, 

 I told one of the boys to gather enough for din- 

 ner, and if they were uninjured by frost he 

 might gather all that were of sufficient size. 

 To my astonishment they were the sweetest 

 and nicest turnips of the season. Burpee's 

 Breadstone turnip is remarkable for standing a 



