14 THE AMATEUe's GEEENHOUSE 



sity of considering the subject of heating coincidently with the 

 construction of the ' 



The Flue System. — The simplest method of heating is by 

 means of a furnace and brick flue. Every skilled bricklayer 

 knows how to heat a house by this method, but it is well that 

 those who have to pay and take the consequences should know 

 something about it also. It is necessary, in the first place, to 

 provide a sufficiently capacious stoke-hole at the end of the 

 house, or, in the case of a lean-to, behind the back wall. This 

 must be sunk below the level, and there must be a decided rise 

 from the fire to the flue, to enable the draught to overcome the 

 check which the heat encounters iu taking the horizontal course 

 of the flue. The simplest arrangement in the case of a lean-to 

 is to take the flue along the front of the house, rising slightly 

 all the way, and terminating in a chimney at the other end. In 

 the case of a span-roofed house it will be desirable to take 

 the flue round the house, rising gently all the way, and termi- 

 nating in a chimney over the furnace. It will be understood 

 that the necessity of a continuous rise of the flue renders it desir- 

 able to place the furnace low enough in the first instance. It is 

 desirable to detach the flue at every point from the floor of the 

 house by means of piers, to allow of a circulation of air around 

 the whole exterior of the flue, and promote a consequent equable 

 distribution of the heat. A small flue of four-inch or six-inch 

 drain-pipes, well cemented at the joints, may suffice for a small 

 house, but what we should consider a good flue would be two 

 feet high and one foot wide, the sides of brickwork, and 

 the top and bottom red foot tiles or slates. A serviceable flue, 

 however, may be made eight inches wide and sixteen inches deep, 

 and in any case the depth should, exceed the width, or it will 

 not draw well. It is a good plan to plaster the flue on the 

 outside, to prevent the escape of smoke, but this is not needed 

 if it is well built, and it certainly does slightly check the com- 

 munication of heat to the house for the first hour or so after 

 the fire is lighted. A trough for water on the top of the flue 

 should be provided. In some districts tiles, with sunken sur- 

 faces, may be obtained for this purpose, but a cistern of zinc or 

 iron is everywhere obtainable. But whoever can construct a 

 flue will find no difficulty in securing an evaporation of water 

 from the top of it. The kind of fuel to be burned will, in 

 some degree, determine the size and material of the flue, for the 



