WATER SUPPLY 15 



the coldest water, and in winter-time the plants and soil 

 may be moistened with water of a genial tepidity. The 

 great drawback, however, to a " pulsometef " seems 

 to be that it will not pump until steam has been " got 

 up " in the necessary boiler attached. It also requires 

 the almost constant attendance of a man to keep the 

 fire well fed with coke or coal ; and this last item is 

 likewise a source of considerable expense. 



With any of the other pumps mentioned, the diffi- 

 culty of heating the water in the storage tank may 

 be got over fairly easily. By fixing up a small, ordinary 

 " saddle " boiler, and connecting it to the storage tank 

 with a '" flow " and " return " pipe, sufficient heat 

 will be generated with a barrow-load or two of coke 

 per day ; so that the temperature of the water is easily 

 raised to the region of 60 to 70 Fahr., or even more 

 if the boiler is " driven." 



.As little or no water is actually applied overhead 

 directly to the plants growing on the hot-beds and 

 under cloches during the coldest period of the year, 

 say from November or December till March or April, 

 the question of heating the water in the storage tanks 

 in winter is not of paramount importance perhaps, 

 unless the liquid is required for use in hot-houses and 

 greenhouses. 



CAPILLARY ATTRACTION. During the cold winter 

 season, the early crops in the frames derive all the 

 moisture they require at the roots from the rain- 

 water that runs off the lights on to the rather long, 

 littery manure in the narrow pathways between the 

 hot-beds. By capillary attraction the water is ab- 

 sorbed from the sodden pathways to the centre of 

 the beds beneath the lights, and in this way the 



