CONSERVATORIES, GREENHOUSES, VINERIES AND FRUIT HOUSES. 



Such an arrangement is not only economical in first cost but has several great 

 advantages from the gardener's point of view. Three-quarters of his work will centre 

 round the potting shed and heating chamber, so that to have these one over the other 

 is very convenient, and the door between the former and the glasshouses will allow him 

 to remove plants from one to the other without exposure to the weather. No fumes 

 from the heating chamber will reach the glasshouse by this door, for the former will 

 be approached by an outside staircase and not have any direct communication with the 

 potting shed. All that is necessary is that the staircase to the heating chamber shall 

 be conveniently placed in relation to a door from the potting shed, communicating with 

 the space at the rear of the range. Again, such an arrangement allows of a very 

 convenient planning of the hot-water pipes. In the first place it renders the construction 

 of culverts through which to carry the pipes from the boiler to the range, or from one 

 house to another, quite unnecessary, and this is always to be avoided as, however care- 

 fully the pipes are swathed in heat-conserving material, there is always more or less 

 loss, varying with the length of the culvert and other conditions such as the material 

 with which the pipes are packed and the possibility of keeping it dry. Again a further 

 advantage lies in the fact that, in such an arrangement, the hot water pipes will go 

 right and left from the boiler in two separate circulatory systems, so that during those 

 portions of the year when few houses will need heat, it is possible entirely to cut off 

 half the pipes at a main valve, and heat the rest with a small and economical fire. It 

 also allows of the houses which require most heat being placed nearer the centre of the 

 range, and consequently nearer the boiler than those which require less. Thus the early 

 vinery might come first with the late vinery beyond and the early and late peach-houses 

 after them in the same order, as the last of these would require very little or no heat- 

 ing. The stove house would, of course, come nearest of all, as it requires the fiercest 

 heat. 



Where the plan of a range is necessarily L shaped as in illustration No. 298, a 

 good place to put the potting shed is in the angle, as otherwise there is necessarily a 

 small square house at this point which, being shut in on all sides, is suitable only for 

 a fernery and, unless this class of house is wanted, as in the instance shown, the space 

 is more or less wasted. 



Hot water j n ^ e now amios t universally adopted low-pressure hot-water system of heating, 



the hot water from the boiler is caused to circulate through the pipes by utilizing the 

 natural law which ordains that, if one part of the water in the system is hotter than 

 another, it will rise to the top. Thus the water is heated in the boiler and finds its 

 way into the pipe known as the " main flow," which starts from the top of the boiler 

 and, rising as it goes, gradually travels to the highest and most distant point in the 

 system. Being cooled as it goes, it then returns to the boiler by means of the " main 

 return," which joins the latter at the bottom. It thus follows that, to ensure good 

 results, the rise in the pipes from the boiler to the extremity of the system, should be 

 continuous and even. To make this possible, the main pipes are usually placed in a 

 trench under the glasshouse floor, as otherwise they would come across the doorways, 

 and could not be run through even the shortest trench between the main block and an 

 outlying house or hot frame. The radiating pipes are then connected to the mains at 

 convenient points and furnished with screw-down valves. There are two means of 

 doing this known respectively as connection " in series " and " in parallel." In the 

 former case both ends of the branch are connected to the same main, with a stop- 

 cock on the main between the two connections, while in the latter, which is by far the 

 better way for horticultural work, the flow of the radiating system is taken from the 

 main flow, and the return pipe to the main return. The former method, which is 

 more suited to the heating of domestic buildings, is sometimes advocated for horticultural 



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