April 1C, ISSl. ] 
JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 
809 
the Show a thorough success. Space will not allow a more detailed 
account, and the grand Show will not soon be forgotten by all who had 
the privilege to see it. 
ARRANGEMENT OF HOT-WATER PIPES. 
“ Heating Eefobmee ” a few weeks ago made a protest against 
the too common plan of massing the whole of the pipes in a house in 
one place. While quite agreeing with him that this is an evil to be 
avoided, yet I can scarcely go the whole length of spreading the pipes 
out 2 feet apart over the borders. Not that I would have any doubts 
of its suiting the Vines or of its heating the house to perfection, nor 
even the slight inconvenience in attending to the borders. The chief 
objection to be raised against it in private places is the question of 
growing plants in the vineries, which in most places is a necessity. 
Under the “spreading” system it would be necessary to have a lattice 
stage above the pipes. Upon this fresh potted bedding plants would 
become dry quickly and require more attention with water than if they 
till they are removed. If the leaves were kept dry as proposed by 
lightu the border would bo warmer throughout the winter ; the leaves 
might be cleared out by the end o£ February and the space filled with 
bedding Geraniums, &c., potted a short time before. These will require 
very little water except by syringing for some time longer, and the 
lights being kept rather close will catch all the sun heat to the advan¬ 
tage of the Vine roots now becoming active. For the summer the 
liglits would be used elsewhere and again put in this position to shelter 
bedding plants, &c., before they are finally housed for the winter. In 
conelusion I may say that the plan here given is that of a vinery at 
present under my charge, with the exception of the arrangements at 
h, c and d. which I am sorry to add may be said tcT be an unrealised 
dream of the future.—R. I. 
I AM surprised to learn that “ Heating Reformer ” finds the articles 
I lately referred to on “Heating by Hot Water” bear more on “the 
principle of heating by scientific rules” than on the subject of his 
article, page 179. If the scientific rules governing water when heated 
riG. 58.— A r-SEFUL VINERY : 
ARRANGING HOT WATER PIPES. 
stood on the borders. The steam arising from this and from keeping 
the surface of the border moist by damping, would not at all seasons 
be to the advantage of the Vines. 
I quite agree with Mr. Williams as to the necessity of having valves 
on both flow and return pipes, and as close to the mains as possible. The 
loss of heat through this is often very great, as I can testify from the 
•defects of the arrangement of valves in my present charge. The 
discussion in the “Gardener” of 1879, referred to by Mr. Williams, 
was more upon the subject of deep versus shallow stokeholes, and their 
influence on the circulation of the water in the pipes than disposing 
the pipes for the more perfect heating of a house, aimed at by “ Heating 
Reformer.” But it is quite evident that even this circulation question 
is not yet perfectly understood, as I see it is sometimes found necessary 
to have more pipes to take the water back to the boiler than flows that 
lead from it. 
I herewith enclose a section of a vinery which I can commend to 
anyone who wants a really useful house to produce Grapes, say early in 
June. For this purpose the six rows of pipes as shown will be sufficient, 
and are so placed as not to occupy valuable space and yet to distribute 
the heat fairly well. At a, a, a, a there are shelves for Strawberries or 
other plants during the earlier stages of the Vines’ growth. By en¬ 
closing the two pipes by the back wall, as shown at h, you have an 
excellent place for forcing Seaka'e and a first lot of Rhubarb, &c., and 
the frame e would be useful for a variety of purposes too numerous to 
mention. If the outside border was covered with lights and a single 
pipe run round it as shown at d, I think would be a much better plan 
than the usual way of protecting them in winter. We usually cover 
them with a good depth of dry leaves, which before the winter is half 
gone is wet and cold, and they keep the border in an ungenial state 
and conducted through glass and other structures for the purpose o ■ 
raising the temperature of those structures are right, they have a direc 
bearing on the arrangement of the pipes employed. 
Whether Mr. Hammond’s molecular theory be right or wrong matters 
little, the deduction I make from the articles, so far as the question at 
issue is concerned, is “ that any obstruction offered to free circulation is 
bad.” As “ Heating Reformer ” has read those articles he is acquainted 
with the various obstructions discussed. 
T cited a case in my previous communication where three flows pro¬ 
vided for each return in a house at some distance from the boiler did 
not work satisfactorily, that on the flow and return pipes being equalised 
the work was efficiently done. All other conditions being the same, 
this shows that the boiler po-wer was not sufficient to overcome the 
obstruction which the three flows offered to circulation. In a house 
close to the same boiler this obstruction was not felt, for the obvious 
reason that the heating power was greater there than at a distance. 
Exactly the same principle applies to a greater number of flows to each 
return' pipe, which I have no doubt will answer, as in “ Heating 
Reformer’s” case, if the boiler power be sufficient to overcome the 
obstruction. Where this obstructive system is largely carried out much 
more fuel has to be burned than for the primitive method which he 
condemns. 
Your correspondent says that “ objections may be raised to any plan, 
but substantiating such objections with an improved method would 
caerv much more weight.” Had he carefully perused my communica- 
tion'Cpage 243) he would have observed the following—“ If a vinery is 
fitted with two rows of pipes at or near the front, and the same quantity 
from the middle to the back of the house, according to the way the 
house is arranged, there need be no attack from red spider if the 
