THE PRACTICAL GARDENER. 



the Other, will convey the water back to the boiler to be 

 Rfrain heated. When the degree of heat required is consider- 

 able, two upper pipes, or even three may be used, or they 

 may be of gi*eater size, presenting, in either case, as much sur- 

 face as possible. 



A green-house of two hundred feet in length, may be suf- 

 ficiently heated in this manner with one fire ; the boiler being 

 placed in the middle under the stage, or in a niche in the back 

 wall, and the pipes extending to right and left. In all cases, 

 where it can be attained, the pipes should run parallel, and 

 as near to the front wall or lowest part of the house as pos- 

 sible. The heat will always find its way to the highest parts ; 

 or, where houses are of less length, and connected, the boiler 

 may be placed between two, and either one or both may be 

 forced at the same time, with the same fire. In pine-stoves 

 and pits, where most heat is required, two or three pipes are 

 used to convey the heated water to the extremity ; and this 

 water is brought back to the boiler by one single pipe, having 

 a slight inclination from the farthest end towards the boiler. 



The hot-water system, applied in the frame or pit-ground, 

 for the cultivation of young pines, early melons, cucumbers, 

 forcing flowers, sea-kale, asparagus, 6cc., or for the protection 

 of green-house plants, bids fair to give a new feature to that 

 department; and we hope, through its adoption, to see the 

 melon-ground soon a spot of some order and interest, instead 

 of a dung-yard of the worst description, which it is at present. 

 A very considerable length of pit-forcing might be carried on 

 by hot water, and a temperature kept up, not only with regu- 

 larity, but with little expense. The uncertainty of dung-heat, 

 together with the expense of management and evident waste of 

 manure, and the constant litter in which it keeps this depart- 

 ment, will be got rid of, by substituting hot water. Fire-heat, 

 by means of flues, can never be generally nor safely applied 

 to pits or frames of ordinary dimensions, the flues occupying 

 too much space, and the heat obtained being so unequally dis- 

 tributed, one end being burnt, while the other is freezing. 

 This is not the case with hot water ; the heat being uniform 

 for any reasonable length, and the space occupying only a few 



