Olareli 14,1889. J 
JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 
209 
T HE length of time the best-arranged systems of heating by hot 
■water continue to do their work satisfactorily, with a minimum 
•of repairs, depends almost entirely upon the measures taken to 
preserve the pipes from corroding. If trenches are prepared for 
mains and other pipes beneath the surface, on the best principles, 
they almost invariably fail in preventing moisture finding its way 
to the pipes in some way. Whatever care is taken, it is next to an 
impossibility to prevent water entering these trenches. It is not 
difficult on straight lengths of piping to make the trenches practi¬ 
cally watertight, but not where bottom and top heat pipes rise 
from the mains. If the pipes rise, and are arranged on each side of 
the path in the house, water from Washing the floor and damping 
the walls is certain to find its way to the connections below. If 
the pipes are arranged below the stage or in beds for providing 
bottom heat the same evil occurs. But this is not all, for the pipes 
in the houses are by no means free from other destructive agencies. 
As hot-water pipes are generally arranged without special pro¬ 
vision for their preservation, ten years may elapse before many 
burst owing to corrosion. Failures are then frequent, and cause 
■considerable annoyance, for they invariably occur in positions that 
are difficult to repair, and always, or nearly always, where water 
has trickled upon the pipes, or moisture-holding material has 
•surrounded them. The mere replacing of a bend, other connec¬ 
tions, or a short length of pipe from time to time would not prove 
a serious matter, but upon examination it is very frequently found 
that the adjoining connections have corroded away to such an 
extent that the whole have to be replaced, and so on again at inter¬ 
vals of a very limited period of time. 
Considerable alterations are needed in the management'of hot- 
water pipes with a view to their preservation for an indefinite 
period. I think I am within the mark in saying that they should 
last for at least fifty years before failure from corrosion takes 
place if the necessary care is exercised when they are first laid 
■down. Even top-heat pipes are often so arranged that one-fourth 
of their surface cannot be reached after they are fixed ; or, to say 
the least, the sockets are placed so close to walls and other 
portions of the house that the hand cannot be placed round them. 
Every pipe and every connection should be so arranged that it 
can be painted whenever desirable. 
Efforts are made fo preserve the pipes in many cases by pro¬ 
viding well-made trenches for them ; but, in spite of this, in large 
■systems the arrangements are often of a complicated description, 
and have to pass through walls and under places that -cannot be 
disturbed for examining the pipes at short intervals of time' In 
the majority of cases, although well-made trenches- are prepared, 
the pipes are arranged with one object—namely, heating satis¬ 
factorily the structures into which they are carried. This is 
certainly an important matter; ‘ and next to it, if not equally 
important, is the preservation of the pipes. 
This would be best accomplished by painting all pipes and 
connections needed for mains and bottom-heat pipes with aj 
mixture of red lead and boiled oil. It should be thin, anti worked 
well into the pores of the iron, if possible, before rusting 
commences. If allowed to dry the painting of the pipes would 
prove no detriment to the fitting. After being fixed they should 
have another coat before they are enclosed. Such a practice may 
No. 455.—Yon. XVIII., Third Series. 
be objected to on the ground that it prevents the heat escaping 
from the pipes w T ith the same freedom as if they were unpointed. 
This is not the case, and if painted with two coats it will add to their 
lasting properties at least ten years. 
Every care should be taken when they are passfed through walls 
or rested upon pillars that mortar containing lime does not come iu 
contact with the pipes. It will corrode them even quicker than 
water constantly dripping upon them. The best of all supports for 
the pipes where they can be used are iron bars which can be secured 
in the walls of the trenches. Every joint and every pipe should be 
clear, so that any rubbish that may secrete itself about them can be 
readily removed, and every particle of the pipes painted when de¬ 
sirable. When pipes are passed through walls the cavity left round 
them should be large enough to carry out the same work. This is 
very rarely the case, and painting, if attempted, can only be 
carried as far as the masonry. Inside the houses the sockets should 
not be placed so close to walls that the hand cannot be passed round 
them, for it is in such positions that failure by corrosion is most 
likely to occur. If the pipes are arranged so that they can be 
easily reached all round it will “ pay ” to open them out at intervals 
of a few years and thoroughly paint them. Painting the pipes in 
the houses is often done for the mere sake of appearance, doing 
them where they are seen, the remaining portions, and those well 
out of sight, being left to take care of themselves. Some portions 
of the pipes are often left unpainted because they cannot be 
reached with a brush. But they cm be done by dipping a piece of 
cloth into the paint and rubbing it round the pipes with the hand. 
In future we shall dispense with the brush altogether for pipe 
painting. A man can do in a day five times the amount of work 
with an old piece of cloth, and the pipes are equally as neat when 
finished. A little turpentine or petroleum will soon remove all the 
black that has worked itself into the pores of the skin. 
For all top-heat pipes, in fact all that are exposed, nothing sur¬ 
passes lamp black and boiled oil used as thin as possible. The 
smell arising from it does no harm to the tenderest Fern frond or 
foliage, and it dries, quickly if the pipes are just warm when 
applied. A thin coat annually not only adds to the appearance of 
the houses when they are undergoing a thorough cleaning, but it 
will preserve the pipes from corrosion. This mixture is useless on 
pipes that are utilised for bottom heat purposes—that is, where wet 
soil or other material comes in contact with them. For pipes in 
such positions the red lead mixture should be used.—W. Bardney. 
SOWING SEEDS AND MANAGING SEEDLINGS. 
Sowing seeds of various kinds will occupy a large share of 
attention in many departments of the garden during the next few 
weeks, and in carrying out the numerous details in connection with 
this interesting work, those wdio happen to be of a hopeful turn of 
mind form bright visions of the rich harvest that will attend their 
efforts. Unfortunately, in not a few instances, these sanguine 
expectations are not fully realised. In such Cases the blame 
often falls to the seedsman from whom the seeds were obtained, 
when perhaps the real evil lay in the fact that sufficient care was 
hot bestowed upon them at sowing time, or immediately afterwards, 
although it must be admitted that the seed is in fault sometimes. 
When a quantity of seeds that require more or les3 careful 
management have to be sown in pans or boxes kept under glass, 
the first thing to be attended to is the preparation of the soil, and 
I have found it a capital practice to prepare a good sized heap in 
the first place. Seeds of various kinds require to be sown so 
frequently at this time of the year, that to have to prepare soil 
on each occasion would lie the reverse of economy in regard to 
time and labour, and by having a heap kept in reserve, it is an easy 
matter to add whatever ingredients are necessary to make it suitable 
in particular cases. Good cocoa-nut fibre refuse is one of the best 
of all materials to mix with loam for the above purpose. It seems 
No. 2111.—Yol. LXXX.. Old Series. 
