JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 
January 26,1882. ] 
26th 
Tn 
Royal Society at 4.30 P.M. 
27th 
F 
Quekett Club at 8 P.M. 
28th 
S 
29th 
SUN 
4th Sunday after Epiphany. 
30th 
M 
31st 
TU 
1st 
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Socfety of Arts at 8 P.M. 
ECONOMY IN HEATING HOUSES. 
OST readers with ordinary experience will, I ana 
confident, agree with me that there is much room 
for improvement in some of the present waste¬ 
ful modes of heating. Many of us are now 
practising economy closely, and with some the 
coal or coke bill is a rather serious item in the 
garden expenditure. Fortunately we have nothing 
to complain about in this respect, at the same 
time it is a matter of regret that we are constantly, 
metaphorically speaking, burning money that might be 
profitably employed elsewhere. 
We have a considerable amount of hot-water piping arranged 
for top and bottom heat, the whole of which is heated by two 
sufficiently powerful boilers. The houses and pits are grouped 
together at the highest end of a sloping garden. The boilers 
are immediately below the lower ranges—in fact, are directly 
under two of them. This latter, to a certain extent objectionable 
arrangement, admits of the utilisation of the heat given off by 
the brickwork around the boiler, but beyond this the flues are 
wasted, being carried underground a distance of 26 yards, in 
one instance intersecting three ranges of pits, both crossing a 
range of Peach houses, and finally are taken up the back wall 
of the same range. We have had no occasion to fire hard, yet 
at any time the extreme end of the flues is always warm, and 
at times quite hot. Where the flue crosses the pits and an 
early Peach house it certainly does a little good, but unless 
watched closely it unduly dries the border. The other flue 
crosses an unheated Peach house, and in this case does harm, 
as it invariably induces a too early start in that part of a tree 
trained to the wall near the flue. 
Some years since a flue was taken from one of the boilers 
through a range of low houses, so as to increase the bottom 
heat for the Pines then grown here. Unfortunately it burst 
near the boiler, and the flames escaping burnt the woodwork 
supporting the gratings, causing much damage to the Pines, and 
the present arrangement of the flue was the natural consequence. 
I have recently examined this old flue, and to all appearance 
its construction is unobjectionable. It was its course that was 
wrong. It started at nearly right angles with the boiler, and 
traversed a length of 24 yards with scarcely any perceptible 
rise. This had the effect of checking the draught and increas¬ 
ing the pressure on the masonry at the commencement of the 
flue. Had an easy curve been allowed and the flue carried 
along the back wall, and even back again for top heat, I believe 
we should now have the benefit of the economical arrangement. 
65 
A somewhat similar accident happened in a garden I was at 
one time connected with. In this case the flue was taken 
along the back wall of a range of succession Pine pits. The 
idea I could see was a good one, as, although we had a hori¬ 
zontal tubular boiler, a great amount of heat evidently escaped 
up the chimney. Unfortunately the materials for forming the 
flue were of a poor description, and the tradesmen employed 
were new to that kind of work. There was also a sharp curve 
given, and it was not long before the flue burst just inside 
the house, and any plants but Pines would have been] nearly 
ruined. 
These instances will serve to demonstrate the necessity of 
properly constructing a flue, or otherwise it will be a source of 
danger. Fortunately with earthenware pipes there should be 
no difficulty in forming a safe flue inside a brick wall. As to 
the safety as well as efficacy of flues so constructed I have 
recently had strong, and in some respects very disagreeable, 
proof. Our Mushroom house is heated with a flue constructed 
with glazed earthenware pipes, these being enclosed to a certain 
height with flat stones. During the clear frosty weather ex¬ 
perienced the week before Christmas we were burning cinders 
and fine coal for heating this flue, and by an oversight one 
evening the full draught was left on. The consequence was 
an alarm of fire, and this in the Mushroom house with a bed in 
full bearing ! When we at last were able to penetrate through 
the smoke we found some woodwork, and manure—introduced 
by waj' of bottom heat for a nearly cold bed—in contact with 
the pipes, fully 27 feet from the fire, had ignited. It was im¬ 
possible to bear the hand on this flue at its furthest end, and 
yet not one of the pipes burst, the mortar employed at the 
sockets being also apparently uninjured. As may be imagined, 
a temperature of 85° with smoke did not improve the Mush¬ 
rooms, but I had gained valuable knowledge. 
Although I would unhesitatingly heat a house entirely with 
a flue formed of enclosed pipes, I do not advocate a return to 
this old system solely, but would recommend its more general 
adoption in conjunction with a boiler and pipes. This is, I 
am convinced by experience, the most economical mode of 
heating garden structures ; but it should be remembered that 
it is necessary to have a soot door, especially at the angles, or 
otherwise sooner or later the flue will become blocked with 
soot. It is at these doors the only difficulty will be found, but 
if the pipes are enclosed a good tradesman ought to be able to 
obviate this, seeing that these curves or angles will generally 
be at the beginning and end of the flues. 
I can conceive it possible, although I have not had an op¬ 
portunity of testing the point, that if the heat from a furnace 
were conducted through the structure in a well-constructed 
flue, that the temperature of the house might be maintained 
with about half the consumption of fuel requisite for heating 
the pipes to the necessary degree for attaining the object of 
the cultivator. Those who may happen to have had experience 
on this point might communicate it with advantage, as the 
subject of economical heating is unquestionably of great im¬ 
portance. 
In conclusion, I may mention one of our boilers is a plain 
saddle, the other a powerful “cannon," and in both instances 
I see that the dampers are at least half way in when the fire is 
burning brightly. By these means the draught is checked 
considerably, and the flames caused to play about the boiler 
No. 83.—You IV:, Third series 
No. 1739 .-VOL. LXYII.,Old Series. 
