16 PRESENT-DAY GARDENING 



is convenient to remove the tiles and restore the natural 

 earth surface. In arranging the staging, one essential 

 object has to be kept in view, namely, that no part of 

 it shall be out Of easy reach ; for very wide stages are apt 

 to cause the plants in the back rows to suffer neglect. 



METHOD OF HEATING 



In these progressive times it is not well to lay down hard- 

 and-fast rules with regard to the best type of appliance. It 

 should, however, be urged that every Orchid house ought 

 to be heated with hot water, and, that in all cases 4-inch 

 piping should be used, the radiation of heat from that size 

 being much more gentle and equal than from smaller pipes. 

 Bottom heat by means of piping under closed-in beds of 

 cocoa-nut fibre, or any other material, is bad, although, in a 

 very slight degree, some arrangement of the kind may be 

 of assistance in the house devoted to raising seedlings. If 

 it is used, an outlet must be provided for the inevitable 

 moisture thus raised so that it will not condense and fall 

 on the plants. 



For small houses or blocks of houses, the old saddle 

 boiler in some form is all that can be desired ; and there 

 are several forms of slow-combustion boilers which may be 

 set almost on the surface of the ground outside the house, 

 and these are satisfactory. For blocks of houses the English 

 form of sectional boiler is one of the very best ; in large 

 blocks duplicate sets of this pattern, or any other type that 

 may be selected, should be set down, as it provides means 

 of heating the houses if the ordinary boiler happens to fail. 

 It is always better to provide more power than may appear 



