130 



The top of the flue thus doubled, being three feet 

 wide, is covered with stone three inches thick, which 

 forms a walk along the middle of the house. {Hort, 

 Soc. Trans, vii. 209.) 



The combination of a fermenting body with fire- 

 heat is of course judicious, especially where a flue is 

 employed, which is now generally considered a nui- 

 sance. We regret that Mr. Henderson did not state 

 the precise position of the flue, which, we confess, we 

 cannot infer from his paper. We have grown peaches 

 by a similar plan, and have obtained several medals 

 for them : our heating was, however, pipes in combi- 

 nation with the steam from leaves. Two feet three 

 inches is rather too far from the roof. Ours is about 

 eighteen inches, which distance we find amply suffi- 

 cient. 



Our own experience is decidedly in favour of hot 

 water in tanks as a source of heat for the peach house ; 

 not only because it is the most regular and most man- 

 ageable, but because, as observed by Mr. Liddiard, it 

 is free from the noxious gases that escape through the 

 joints of brick flues. Although good crops are pro- 

 duced from houses heated by flues, nevertheless, as 

 they were generally heated by one flue, that part near 

 the fire is always many degrees hotter than the oppo- 

 site end, and this is unfavourable for the production 

 of good fruit at an early season. Such an irregularity 

 is obviated by the use of hot water, an equal degree of 



