HENDERSON'S HANDBOOK OF PLANTS. 



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hot-bed, the warmth of the weather, and 

 the character of the plants in the bed, so 

 that we can only give a loose general 

 rule. Numbers of inexperienced ama- 

 teur cultivators often lose the entire 

 contents of the hot-bed by having omit- 

 ted to ventilate their hot-bed, and on 

 their return home from business at night 

 find all the contents scorched up. Or the 

 danger of the other extreme is, that the 

 plants are frozen through neglect to 

 cover them at night. A hot-bed requires 

 a certain amount of attention, which 

 must be given at the right time, or no 

 satisfactory results can be expected. 

 Heating by Hot Water. This is now the 

 method in use in nearly all well-appoint- 

 ed green-house structures. But little de- 

 tail need be given, as this branch of heat- 

 ing is done almost exclusively by firms 

 who make a special business of it, and 

 who generally understand the construc- 

 tion and requirements necessary in heat- 

 ing, better than those who employ them 

 usually do; but there are some points 

 which it is perhaps as well to state. In 

 any section of the country where the 

 thermometer falls below zero, if a green- 

 house ten feet high, twenty feet wide, 

 and 100 long, is to be heated by hot 

 water, and a temperature of sixty degrees 

 is required, there should be not less than 

 eight " runs " of four^inch pipes running 

 the length of the house; if fifty degrees 

 are required, six "runs " of pipe; if forty 

 degrees, four " runs " of pipe. The styles 

 of boilers in use are so varied that we for- 

 bear to give any one in particular a prefer- 

 ence here. For small green-houses, or 



contrivance known as the Base-burning 

 "Water Heater is very convenient. The 

 boiler takes up no more room than an 



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ordinary stove, and the fire requires no 

 more skill or attention than any ordinary 

 base-burning stove, being fed by coal 

 from the top. It can be left with safety 

 ten or twelve hours withoiit any atten- 

 tion. At present prices, a Base-burning 

 Water Heater, with pipes sufficient to 

 heat a green-house 10X50 feet, will cost 

 about $200, or twice that size about $350. 

 Heating by Steam. Few green-houses are 

 as yet heated by steam, though the cost 

 of construction is much less, and it is also 

 claimed that there is greater economy in 

 fuel ; but though we have had green-houses 

 heated for the past forty years, both in 

 Europe and America, by hot water, steam 

 heating for glass structures has made 

 little progress. It has been successfully 

 done, however, both in Pittsburg, Penn- 

 sylvania, and in Chicago, Illinois, and ex- 

 periments with it on a large scale are 

 now being tried in several parts of the 

 country. We have but little doubt that 

 in erecting green-houses on an extensive 

 scale at one time it is economy to use 

 steam heating; but nearly all such struc- 

 tures are progressive, a few being added 

 each year, and the heating by the ordi- 

 nary hot-water pipes is as yet believed by 

 the uninitiated to be the safer mode. It 

 must be some such reason as this, whether 

 right or wrong, that has so long caused 

 green-houses to be heated by hot water 

 in this age of steam. 



The following is from E. H. Bochman, 

 Pittsburg, Penn., who has been eminent- 

 ly successful with Steam Heating for 

 green-houses. He is strong in the belief 

 that it will eventually supersede all other 

 methods: 



" The New System of Heating Green- 

 houses by Low-pressure Steam, by which 

 are gained important advantages in every 



