226 
JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 
[ March 19, 18*5. 
the house the number of hot-water pipes employed, for 
only by this means can a safe and genial heat be main¬ 
tained. 
Another evil, and a very prevalent one, is an insufficiency 
of piping. This is frequently the result of one of two causes 
—either from a lack of knowledge of how many pipes are 
necessary to heat a certain sized structure, or from motives 
of economy. The latter is the most general cause, and this 
so-called economy in the end proves quite the reverse. The 
employment of fewer pipes certainly effects a slight saving in 
the first outlay, but the extra consumption of fuel necessary 
to produce the required temperature very soon proves a 
heavier item than the cost of a few extra pipes. Over¬ 
heating pipes causes the rapid increase of many insects, and 
not unfrequently results in serious failures. Sufficient pipes 
should always be employed, so that a given heat can be 
maintained during the worst winterly weather without having 
to resort to a system of overheating them. For the purpose 
of showing that I have reasonable grounds for condemning 
the false economy referred to, a case that came under my 
own observation a few years ago may be given. Two houses 
situate over 300 feet from the boilers had insufficient piping. 
In one two extra rows were supplied, and in the other the 
pipes were raised and re-arranged with slight additions. 
The result of this outlay was that not only have the occu¬ 
pants of the two houses in question succeeded much better, 
but the coal bill has been annually reduced by £20. 
The chambers in which the mains are arranged are also 
of importance. In many establishments they are too narrow, 
and the brickwork has to be pulled down if any repairs are 
needed. The chambers should be at the least 18 inches in 
width, which allows ample room for workmen without dis¬ 
turbing the walls. The return pipe must never rest upon 
the bottom of the chamber, but be sufficiently elevated (say 
4 inches) to allow of the lower portion of the joints being 
readily packed. The brickwork for the side walls must be 
9 inches thick, and the bottom should also be bricked and 
grouted to prevent the pipes when heated drawing the 
moisture from the ground. It is surprising, if confined in a 
chamber where they can draw a bountiful supply of moisture, 
how rapidly they rust, until the metal is so reduced that they 
will not bear any extra strain. It is also a general mistake 
to cover the mains as they are placed in, for however good 
the chambers may be the pipes rust considerably. Every 
part of the pipes before they are covered should be coated 
with red lead and oil, which preserves them for a greater 
length of time than many would think. 
The joints of all the main pipes that are buried in 
chambers, and intended to remain permanent, should be 
packed with iron filings, which will insure the joints 
remaining sound as long as the pipes last. This is not the 
case when they are packed with oakum and the patent putty 
or cement that is used by some persons. I have ample proof 
that joints packed after this fashion are not durable ; on the 
contrary, they will not last more than seven or eight years 
on the mains constantly in use. The oakum is thoroughly 
worn out, and the joints, without they are repacked, give 
unspeakable trouble. Certainly this is the quickest mode of 
joint-packing that can adopted, but it cannot ba too strongly 
condemned for all joints that are beneath the ground. Those 
exposed in the houses are always in sight and can be readily 
attended to in cases of leaking. 
Reliable valves are of vital importance in a complete 
system of heating by hot water. The ordinary throttle valve 
should not be used on any of the flow pipes, for they fail to 
stop the heat from entering the houses after they have been 
in use for a short time. They will do fairly well on the 
return for the purpose of a check in case they are needed, but 
even for this position we do not care for them. Two of the 
best quality screw-down valves should be employed for each 
house, and then with additional valves on the main pipes for 
each separate branch there is some chance of holding back 
the water in case of an accident in one of the houses. To 
empty thousands of feet of 4-inch piping is a very serious 
matter when water is scarce, but whether scarce or not a 
much greater length of time is occupied in refilling them 
before the requisite heat can again be raised, and this is 
often a matter of very great importance, especially if a 
failure occurs during the forcing season or when the weather 
is very severe. It is not my intention to recommend makers 
of valves. I have tried many and have found them answer 
their purpose, one as well as another. But there is one 
matter that is worthy of consideration. The majority of 
screw-down valves stop the heat from entering the houses 
when screwed down, but how many will hold back the 
water ? My experience points to the fact that none will 
effect this and prove water-tight after they have been in use 
from six to twelve months. I could understand a pair of 
valves failing to do this if an enormous pressure of water 
was behind them, but when this pressure is held back by a 
pair of valves to every house as well as two or three pairs 
upon the mains, and the pipes would then run themselves 
empty, the valves are not what they ought to be. Great 
strides have been made undoubtedly, but there still remains 
much to be done before the valves used in our hot-water 
arrangements are perfect and capable of doing that which 
they are expected to do. 
Expansion valves or joints some contend are unnecessary, 
but I believe they are of real importance in insuring the 
safety of the pipes when heated to the highest extent, which 
very often is the case with the pipes acting as mains. When 
the pipes are hot they must expand considerably, and if some 
provision has not been made they are liable to break. I 
remember once seeing an extensive arrangement tried for the 
first time, and many of the joints packed with iron filings 
were drawn and had to be repacked. If the pipes had been 
provided with a pair of joints on the two mains some dis¬ 
tance from the boiler this would not have occurred. In a 
straight length of pipes the expansion on the mains is con¬ 
siderable, and can be tested when joints are used by marking 
the pipes when cool, which will at once prove the necessity 
of these valves. Care must be taken when these valves are 
arranged on the pipes that they are sufficiently far from the 
ordinary joint of the pipes to allow of the flange being well 
pushed back, so that repacking can be done when necessary. 
When plenty of room is left for this it is not difficult to 
repack the joints when they require this attention. If 
arranged close to the joint of the pipe as was done here there 
is no chance of packing them without cutting them out, 
which we have recently been compelled to do. 
It is surprising what a large amount of rust and dirt 
becomes deposited in the pipes in the course of twelve months, 
and we strongly advise the whole of the water to be run out 
of the boiler and pipes annually. The usual means provided 
for this purpose are sadly inadequate, a small pipe only being 
inserted in the boiler by which this can be accomplished. 
This is ample for running out the whole of the water, but 
the dirt falls into the mains, and from the mains into the 
boiler—there to remain, for it is impossible to get it out 
through the pipes usually employed. In all forms of the 
saddle boiler, instead of one two pipes should be inserted, one 
on each side of the end, and the bottom of the pipes should 
be exactly level with the base of the boiler. In boilers 
capable of heating from 7000 to 10,000 feet of 4-inch piping 
the pipes inserted for this purpose must not be less than 
3 inches in diameter, which would allow of the water coming 
out with force if a valve or cap that could be entirely 
removed was also employed, and thus bring with the water 
all the dirt and sediment. In addition to this the boilers 
could be well washed out by turning on the water supply at 
the feeder.— Wm. Bardney. 
SNOWDROPS. 
The modest pearly Snowdrops are no less favourites in the gardens 
of to-day than they were in the gardens of half a century ago, notwith¬ 
standing the hosts of spring-flowering bulbs now added to collections 
