208 HOME FLORICULTURE 



When my greenhouse was still "a castle in Spain," 

 I began to study up the matter of heating it, were it 

 ever to materialize. I wrote to practical florists for 

 their opinions. Some advised steam heating. Others 

 advised hot water heating. The majority seemed to 

 be in favor of the latter system. After investigating 

 the relative merits of both systems and visiting houses 

 heated in both ways, I came to the conclusion that 

 for small houses, such as the amateur would be likely 

 to build, hot water heating is much preferable in several 

 ways. Steam heating would doubtless be better for 

 large houses, but in small ones it would not be as con- 

 trollable, and certainly not as cheap, as hot water 

 heating. Many dwellings are now heated by steam 

 or hot water, and where this is done, it is an easy 

 matter to extend the system to the greenhouse without 

 much trouble and but little extra cost over the expense 

 of the piping required. In such a case, you can heat 

 your greenhouse very cheaply. If you have to buy 

 a heating outfit expressly for it the cost will be consid- 

 erably increased. 



When my greenhouse was first built, I had a 

 heater put in for heating it, while the dwelling part 

 was warmed by coal stoves. Two years ago I decided 

 to discard stoves from the dwelling and put in a hot 

 water apparatus large enough to furnish heat for both 

 dwelling and greenhouse. I find that it works per- 

 fectly. The greenhouse circulation is controlled to suit 

 the weather by valves in the pipes taking the water 

 from the heater to the greenhouse, so that a large 

 amount of heat can be let on if desired, or all heat 

 can be shut ofif, by simply opening or closing a valve. 

 It is the same with that part of the circulation which 

 extends to the dwelling. The quality of heat is much 

 more satisfactory than that obtained from steam, being 

 moister and milder. Steam heat is pretty sure to be 



