Forcing Houses or Pits. 77 



100 feet in length. The boiler is a second-hand four or five- 

 horse power, and at an outside temperature of zero has to carry 

 about 5 pounds of steam in order to maintain a temperature of 65 

 to 70 degrees inside. Two-inch pipes conduct the heat from 

 the boiler, one line of pipe running up on each side of the house, 

 and both returning through the centre back to the boiler. The 

 furnace room is an excavation 10 feet by 12 feet, and 6 feet deep 

 at the north or northwest end of the house, walled up or cemented, 

 and covered with a roof. Length of pipe required is 450 feet. 

 The entire cost of a structure of these dimensions, boiler and 

 pipes included, amounts to $450 for the material, to which the 

 cost of steam-fitting by a plumber will have to be added. Any 

 man of ordinary intelligence can do all the rest of the work on 

 the house. 



For the purpose of vegetable forcing, the pipes are laid all 

 above ground, as shown at E and B page 74. If wanted for 

 starting seedlings, and for general propagating purposes, how- 

 ever, the pipe had better be placed from 10 to 12 inches under the 



Mr. Bingham's Method of Heating. 



surface, encased in an ordinary 3-inch drain tile, as shown at D, 

 or perhaps still better in the manner employed in Mr. Bingham's 

 house, and shown on this page. Mr. Baker tells me that he has 

 been most successful in growing lettuce, radishes and such vege- 

 tables by running the pipes above the benches, fastened to the 

 outside posts, and in the centre the same way, thus heating the 

 air and letting it warm up the soil in Nature's own way, rather 

 than drive out the moisture by bottom heat, which he thinks is 

 the chief cause of " damping off" and of mildew. 



MR. BINGHAM'S METHOD OF HEATING. The house here 

 shown is constructed exactly like the one shown and described 

 on page 74, but 1 24 feet in length. The paths or alleys A A are 

 somewhat narrower so that the outside benches are 5 feet 

 8 inches in width. The boiler is second-handed, with upright 

 flues and iQ-inch grate, rated four-horse power. The direct heat 

 from the furnace is perfectly utilized by means of an under- 



