1892 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



935 



tli<> blaoUsmith plenty of tinit> to do a Kood job; 

 and if tlii> wiKxlwork is to hi- n\adt' new, it i-aii 

 bt' painlt'd i^vcn two coals before it is put on lo 

 the innddy roads ajiain. Uy the way. I never 

 can stand it to see a big beavy team, witb a 

 jroixl stout eOirient man. loalinff at tiie l)laci<- 

 sniitii shop wiiile repaiiinfr is beinfi done. If 

 the sliop is several miles oil — 1 woukhri have 

 a shop several niilt>s otT— 1 would have a hired 

 man who could do a little at it: or, better still, 

 I would pet some tools and do it myself oi\ 

 stormy days; and rifjhl here is where the sec- 

 ond wagon comes in. If your lielj) is low-i)ri(M»d 

 help, it is not so bad. Hy the way. wIkmi 1 liave 

 a good stout team and a good wagon I can not 

 bear to put thom into the hands {)f an ineOicient 

 man. If vou have a man who i< competent to 

 look carefully after the feeding of His team in 

 order that they may do their best, and look 

 carefully after the way the wagon is used— one 

 whose judgment is good as to how much the 

 wagon and hoi-ses can di-aw— you will need to 

 pay him a pretty good price: and when you 

 have got a good, willing, and intelligent man. 

 it is of the utmost importance that be and the 

 team make every hour count, when the weather 

 is suitable. Why. a few days ago it became 

 necessary for us to move some coal, and I 

 found they were starting out with a little over 

 a ton at a load. After I got things fixed to my 

 notion, our big team m')ved tiro tons and a 

 half, and the roads were not good either. With 

 the former loads there was no profit in the 

 transaction. With two tons and a half, how- 

 ever, we made a very good thing of it. 



HAPPY SURPRISES. 



After the poor season for outdoor garden- 

 stuff, happy surprises come in very acceptably 

 ^at least, they do with me: and the one I have 

 found in the last few days is a big one. I tell you 

 —at least, it is a big one to m''. I think I shall 

 have it for a Christmas present. You know 

 how much T have said about hot springs, and 

 lamented that none of them were ever used for 

 heating greenhouses, outdoor beds, or any thing 

 of that soi't. SometinifS it has almost seemed 

 as if I tiDtst have a hot spring of my own. But 

 then, in the region where the liot springs are 

 found there is not any need of greenhouses, and 

 greenhouse pioducts" would not command the 

 prices. probat)ly. that they do here. I did not 

 know bow I coiild get a hoi spring hen; without 

 digging a well so deep as to strike the subter- 

 ranean reservoirs. A jet of gas might do it, 

 but either would cost a good deal of money. 

 Now. what do you think '? (lod has sent me a 

 hot spring right at my own door. Nay, better 

 still: it started right in that new greenhouse I 

 told you about in last issue. The t«>mperature 

 is not that of one of your mild springs, either. 

 for the water is almost boiling hot. I had been 

 praying that God would bless my efforts in 

 both teaching and i)raelicing intensive garden- 

 ing: and the blessing came within three or 

 four days after that prayer. Oh! there is not 

 anything miraculous about it after all: but it 

 is a precious gift, and I am very thankful for it, 

 nevertheless. When I described that new 

 greenhous*! on page 8'.i;^. I told you it was to be 

 warmed by exhaust steam running in tiles 

 back and forth under the beds. Exhaust steam, 

 you will remember, has been already for more 

 than a yrsar running undera part of our garden. 

 Well, about a hundred feet from the green- 

 house was this six-inch tile ihal carried the 

 exhaust steam. After the; l)uildiiig was all 

 finished it occurred to me that I had made no 

 provision for water inside of the house: and 

 then I remembered that I might have laid a 

 water-pipe at the same time this six-inch tile 

 was put put in, for at one point it runs very 



near one of our undei^'iound watei'-pipes. 

 Then it occurred to me that 1 could <lig up tiie 

 tile at a point inside of the grr-enhouse, and 

 push a ;'| -inch galvanized iron i)ip(! right back 

 througii the tile until the end came to the 

 waler-|)ipe. It was a siioil job to do it: and 

 wliile doing it it did occur to me that the ex- 

 haust st(>am would warm th<^ water so that it 

 would be about the right ti'mperature to water 

 the plants. Weil, you may think we were all 

 stupid: but it was a downright surprise to me 

 when I first opened the valve, lo find the water 

 was almost boiling hot. Before we could put it 

 on the plants it would have to be cooled otT. I 

 was as badly off as those friends in Sun .lacin- 

 to, who ran their spring wali>r into a great big 

 tank, and wailed for it lo cool off so it would be 

 fit to drink. At the same lime, they purchased 

 wood to warm the rooms of their sanitarium. 

 We did not do so badly as that, I rememlx'r 

 of thinking that, if I had a hose long ent)Ugh 

 to go clear around the greenhouse, and 

 then turn on the water very slowly, it would 

 probably be cool enough by tl>e time it reached 

 the sprinkler. Then I said. "'Why. you old 

 stupid! just run an iron pipe clear around the 

 greenhouse, and your building can be heated 

 by hot water." I supposed I scratched my head 

 a little then, for pretty soon it burst upon me 

 that I could put my hot-water pipes overhead, 

 right under the sash, and then I should have 

 overhead heating while the tiles under the beds 

 would give bottom heat; and the very day the 

 idea came into my mind, with the assistance of 

 one man the pipes were up. But I was stupid, 

 even then. I supposed the water would have 

 to be shut off so it would just come in drops, or 

 perhaps run in a small stream. I thought that, 

 if I let it run at all fast, so much cold water 

 going through the pipes would chill them off. 

 Now. the surprise was, to find that the heat 

 liberated in the condensation of that exhaust 

 steam through 100 feet of tile would keep a 

 good -sized stream of water, and the pipes as 

 well, so hot they could not be touched with the 

 hand. After \varming my house, there is hot 

 water to spare — enough to run ever so many 

 more hot beds or greenhouses. My friends sug- 

 gested, however, that, as the engine runs only 

 during the day. my hot water would be missing 

 when most needed, during the night. But even 

 this is not true. The tile, that carries the ex- 

 haust steam is, perhaps. J8 inches under ground. 

 The ground is hot, and stays hot, not only over 

 night, but over Sunday: and this Monday 

 morning, when the thermometer stood at only 

 15° above zero. I was agreeably surprised to find 

 my hot-water pipes quite warm, although a 

 steady stream of water had been going through 

 them day and night. You see, lo get the higli- 

 est temperature in the pipes, we gauge the size 

 of the stream of water by the valve: and to 

 keep the pipes the warmest, it needs a pretty 

 good-sized stream at the outlet. Y"ou might 

 think at first that this would draw on our 

 reservoir supplied by the windmill: but the 

 windmill has been standing idle, wailing for a 

 job. for months; so the exhaust steam and the 

 windmill together have giv(>n me a sj^ring of 

 boiling water that costs abseil utely nothing. 



I have mentioned all this in detail, because it 

 does seem lo me thai it is almost a sin lo pay 

 out so much money for coal and wood while the 

 exhaust steam from thousands of engines is 

 going to waste out in the open air. When you 

 see steam issuing from any sort of shop or 

 factory, and spouting out into the frosty air. 

 you can remember that tons and tons of coal 

 are being sent away in vapor. All that is need- 

 ed is to send this jet of exhaust steam into a 

 line of common draining tile, of size adequate 

 lo the amount of sieam. Of course, we do not 



