HOT-HOUSE. 



131 



so deep; or where there is only one door in the house, a 

 stock-hole three and a half feet deep will be enough, which 

 should be built like a cellar, to keep out any under water. 

 In all instances, pass the first flue to the front of the house, 

 over which have a close table, covered with two inches of 

 sand, and, by keeping it moist, will afford a very congenial 

 heat to young and valuable plants. Likewise- over the fur- 

 nace have a frame in the same manner, which will be found 

 useful for propagating. Any part of the furnace or flue that 

 is under the floor of the house should have a vacuity on 

 both sides to let the heat pass upward. 



Furnaces and flues on the above construction are the most 

 simple in arrangement, and the easiest to manage at all times. 

 But where capital, taste, and practical science can be united, 

 the more elegant disposition of heating by hot water is now 

 universally adopted in extensive glass structures, and will 

 soon be generally adopted in the dwellings of the better 

 class. We have used it in every variety of form and struc- 

 ture for • the past twelve years, and have now five green- 

 houses, each over one hundred feet long, heated by it, using 

 every variety of pipe and form of boiler ; have also used 

 wooden and cement tanks. Sand beds heated by it for pro- 

 pagating upon. It cannot be economically used in green- 

 houses under seventy-five feet long, and sixteen to thirty 

 feet wide. In all erections for plant or grape culture, at, or 

 over that extent, the best and cheapest method of applying 

 artificial heat is by the diffusion of hot water through cast 

 iron or copper pipes, of three or four inches in diameter. The 

 boiler may be of any size, from five to fifteen gallons — of 

 any shape, from a pancake to a puncheon; though best 

 adapted to the exposing the greatest surface to the fire is to 

 be preferred. We use what is termed the saddle boiler, and 

 also the double cylinder boiler, preferring the latter, which 

 holds about ten gallons, and will supply heat enough for two 

 green-houses, each one hundred feet long, or will supply a 

 green-house of one hundred feet in length, and a hot-house 

 fifty feet, and from sixteen to twenty feet wide, using four 

 inch pipe, at a cost of about $250, including labor and 

 materials. Its erection is perfectly simple, and can be done 

 by any good bricklayer and handy laborer : build the boiler 

 in the centre of the furnace, with its bottom about twelve or 

 fourteen inches above the fire bars ; allow the heat to have 



