Decembb^ 21, 1905. 



The Weekly Rorists^ Review* 



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Plan for Furnace and Flue with Hot Water Coil in Fire Box. 



weather conditions, though generally 

 speaking the middle of February is 

 about the best time to start hotbeds. It 

 is better, however, to delay a week, or 

 even two, if the weather is very severe, 

 as with the thermometer around the zero 

 point, it would be a severe tax on the 

 hotbed and the heat would be apt to be 

 spent before the weather was warm 

 enough for the plants to do without the 

 assistance of artificial heat. 



In pricking the plants over into flats 

 after they have attained sufficient size 

 for handling, it is well to bear in mind 

 that they may have to stand a week or 

 two longer than at first intended and 

 allow them plenty of room, so that they 

 will not become crowded and drawn 

 should it be necessary to hold them over 

 for a while. 



Cauliflower. 



The present is also a good time to sow 

 seeds of this for hotbed purposes and 

 the same remarks regarding space is ap- 

 plicable to them. A rather higher tem- 

 perature than that of the lettuce house 

 will be necessary to insure a good start 

 for the seed of these, as they are apt to 

 come slowly in a low temperature, espe- 

 cially if the seed is a little antiquated, 

 which it is sometimes apt to be either 

 wholly or in part. In any case a tem- 

 perature of from 50 to 55 degrees will 

 give it all the better chance. The Dwarf 

 Erfurt variety is a good one for frame 

 work, as it is more compact in growth 

 than Snowball, thus needing less head 

 room. 



Cucumbers. 



A good deal of watching and coaxing 

 is necessary with these during the dull- 

 est period of the season. Strong fire 

 heat combined with the difficulty often 

 experienced in admitting sufficient fresh 

 air is apt to cause thinness of foliage, so 

 that every opportunity must be watched 

 and all possible air jrdiciously admitted 

 on every favorable occasion. 



The pollination of the flowers also 

 needs close watching, where this opera- 

 tion has to be done by hand, and every 

 opportunity taken advantage of during 

 the brightest part of the day, when 

 enough air is on the house to make the 

 pollen sufficiently dry. Insect pests are 

 also apt to be troublesome when strong 

 fire heat is employed and good judg- 

 ment must be used in the regulation of 



atmospheric moisture, a certain amount 

 of which is necessary to keep the insects 

 down. But on the other hand a moisture- 

 laden atmosphere is productive of thin 

 foliage and soft growth, hence the neces- 

 sity of judicious regulation. 



W. S. Croydon. 



CUCUMBER GROWERS. 



Although it is only a few years since 

 Benjamin Vickery, late foreman for W. 

 W. Rawson, at Arlington, built the first 

 cucumber house in East Mansfield, 

 Mass., there has been a great develop- 

 ment since that time. Mr. Vickery 's is 

 the largest plant, but in addition there 

 are six other growers close by, all of 

 whom have large up-to-date houses. The 

 other growers are Fred Dustin, Joseph 

 Dustin, W. A. Staples, A. Burt, John 

 Conrad and J. Geddes, with prospects of 

 one or two additions to the ranks in the 

 near future. The bulk of the produce is 

 shipped to New York. A good selection 

 of White Spine is grown. 



W. N. C. 



FURNACE AND FLUE. 



[Because of so many calls for copies, which 

 can no longer be supplied, the following query 

 and answer are reprinted from our Issue of 

 December 31, 1903.] 



I want to heat a greenhouse 18x50 

 feet, even span, running east and west, 

 no glass in ends or sides. The side 

 walls are four feet high and the roof 

 is at an angle of about 35 degrees. A 

 night temperature of 50 degrees is nec- 

 essary when it is 10 degrees below zero 

 outdoors. I want to use a flue and 

 would like full directions for building 

 both furnace and flue. 



I also want to heat an adjoining 

 greenhouse 10x20 feet, glass in one end, 

 roof at an angle of 35 degrees, even 

 span, side walls four feet high. Here a 

 night temperature of 60 degrees is need- 

 ed. I want to use hot water to heat 

 this small house. How can I arrange 

 pipes in the furnace in the larger 

 house to heat the small one? Also how 

 many and what size pipes will it take 

 to heat the house? E. W. H. 



While the flue is not to be recom- 

 mended where other plans of heating 

 can be afforded, the house in question 

 can be heated by a flue and furnace 

 constructed as shown in the sketches. 



Fig. I and II. Locate the furnace at 

 the west end of the house. Dig a pit 

 about four feet wide and two feet deep 

 extending at least five feet inside the 

 greenhouse and any convenient dis- 

 tance on the outside. Construct a 

 drain of tile on boards to carry off any 

 surface water which might get into the 

 pit. In Fig. I a plan of the furnace 

 and flue is given. The furnace extends 

 about nine inches outside the green- 

 house wall; has walls thirteen inches 

 thick, nine inches common arch brick 

 lined with fire brick.. For this build- 

 ing the furnace should be three feet 

 long by one foot eight inches wide in 

 the clear on the inside, which gives the 

 furnace five square feet of grate sur- 

 face. An ash pit eighteen inches deep, 

 counting from the top of the grate 

 bars, should be provided. The fire-box 

 should also be at least twelve inches 

 in height from grate surface to position 

 of the 114-inch pipes shown in Fig. II, 

 which should be connected at the front 

 of the furnace with return bends and 

 at the rear with cast-iron manifolds. 

 One pipe of each of the five pair should 

 be carried into a manifold to receive 

 the return water and one from each 

 pair carried a little farther back into 

 a manifold to receive the flow ])ipe 

 which is to heat the 10x20 house. The 

 flow had best be 2-inch pipe. At the 

 end of the manifold "T" on the re- 

 turns marked "exp." in Fig. II a 

 %-inch reducer should be placed in the 

 end of the manifold and into this screw 

 a street "L" which should carry a 

 %-inch pipe leading to the peak of the 

 greenhouse and into the bottom of an 

 expansion tank which should hold ten 

 or fifteen gallons. A second-hand steel 

 water tank is ideal for this purpose. 

 The 2-inch riser or flow pipe can be 

 carried from the heater directly under 

 the benches in the 10x20 house and 

 thereby a manifold be broken up into 

 four 114-iiich pipes running around the 

 house and again uniting in a manifold 

 at the opposite side of the house. The 

 cooled water would be returned by a 

 1^-inch pipe to the manifold at the 

 rear of the furnace marked (ret) in 

 Fig. II. The heating surface in the 

 furnace will be made up of ten 114- 

 inch pipes running from end to end of 

 the furnace as shown in Fig. II. 



The flue should run entirely around 



