TTA 
576 
HORTICULTURAL NOTES. 
Economical Heating.— The following is 
a detail of a very simple mode of supplying 
heat to a pine-pit, which might be adopted 
without difficulty in many other places : — 
Some years ago a pit was erected here for 
growing pines, but as the proprietor was 
afaid of the expense of fire, it was determined 
that the front and end walls should be pigeon- 
holed three feet below the ground level, and a 
trench provided, to be filled with dung, the heat 
of which was to come into a six-inch flue, to af- 
ford the principal supply of heat, with a fire-flue 
at the back to make up any deficiency in very 
cold weather. The result was that plenty of 
heat was produced, and good fruit grown, but 
at an enormous expense of labour in renewing 
the dung, and waste of fuel ; as the flue having 
a rapid draught and speedy termination, as 
much heat escaped up the chimney as would 
have been more than sufficient to have heated 
the structure (without any dung), if properly 
applied. Being anxious to remedy this with- 
out incurring much expense, I resolved upon 
taking down the fire-flue at the back, and the 
dung-heat flues at the front and end, and to 
have no flue whatever inside the pit, by which 
means I should be able to place the back row 
of pines where the fire-flue was formerly 
placed, and each row following would at last 
bring the front row out of the shade of the 
front wall, and consequently they would re- 
ceive the rays of the sun the same as the others. 
By this arrangement, the space before occu- 
pied with the back flue, with the additional 
space of the dung- heat flue in front, would af- 
ford plenty of room to walk along, the height 
being about six feet. It was necessary to 
build a nine-inch wall, to form the pit to hold 
the tan, along the front of which, between the 
pines, there would be ample room for propa- 
gating many things which would otherwise re- 
quire an additional hot -bed. The inside being 
thus completed, the flue was built along the 
trench, outside the pit formerly occupied by 
the dung, which was completed with the same 
bricks, and as many extra new tiles for the 
bottom and top of the flue as the two ends 
required. The furnace was also fixed in the 
same trench, with holes by the side for the 
admission of cold air into the chamber, as 
occasion might require, the tiles on which 
the flue was built, resting on one brick in 
thickness, in order that no heat might be 
buried; the width and height of the trench 
affording plenty of room at the sides and top 
of the flue for the hot air to circulate. On 
the top of the wall surrounding the flue, and 
resting in the top row of pigeon-holes in the 
front wall of the pit, were placed strong iron 
rods, to be covered with slates, to form the top 
to the air chamber. On these was laid about 
six inches of soil, to prevent the escape of 
heat, which acquired sufficient warmth for the 
growth and propagation of a variety of plants 
under hand-glasses, which would not succeed 
without artificial heat. I had imagined that 
it would be necessary to provide means to 
procure moist heat, but it was not so ; for 
the flue being in such a damp situation, as 
kindly a moist heat was produced as could be 
desired. Over the furnace I had a cistern placed, 
to receive the water from the roof, thereby 
securing at all times a supply of warm water, 
which is no small advantage. This has been 
done at a very trifling expense, and has 
proved advantageous in many ways ; for we 
now obtain a better supply of heat than we 
formerly did with the assistance of the dung, 
and we consume less fuel. G. J. 
T '. CLAY, P1UNTEK, BREAI> STREET I11I.L. 
