422 
AMERICAN AGRICULTURIST. 
[November, 
form ; the little plant sent ns grew rapidly, and 
flowered very freely, and should it retain these 
qualities when taken in-doors, it will prove a 
very valuable winter bloomer. White flowers 
of the size of these aa-e in great demand by the 
bouquet makers, and this abutilon will no 
doubt be found profitable to those who grow 
cut-flowers for sale. It blooms when quite 
small; plants from cuttings flowered with us 
when only a few inches high. 
•Heating Greenhouses by a Flue —A 
probably New Method. 
BY TETElt HENDERSON. 
While in Philadelphia a few weeks ago, I 
called on William K. Harris, Darby Road,West 
Philadelphia, having' been informed that he 
had a system of heating his greenhouses by flues 
somewhat different from that in common use. 
I found his method not only entirely new to 
me, but also one that I think is destined to be 
of great benefit to those who do not wish to go 
to the expense of heating by hot water, as Mr. 
Harris’ plan is certainly the next best thing to 
It. He showed me*one building 100 feet long 
by 20 feet wide, which he assured me was am¬ 
ply heated by one fire only, allowing him to 
keep up a temperature of 50° over all parts of 
the house in the coldest weather. The furnace 
is built at the middle of the house, as shown in 
the accompanying sketch. The bars for the 
grate are 40 inches long, and enough of them 
to make a width of grate of 18 inches. The 
sides of the furnace are built of fire brick to a 
bight of some 15 or 18 inches, over which is 
thrown an arch in the usual way. From the 
neck of this furnace or “ fire box,” proceed two 
flues, one turning to the right, the other to the 
left; these are built of brick so as to form a 
flue of 8 or 9 inches square on the inside. The 
brick part of the flues only runs 25 feet each 
way from the furnace, and from that point 
they are formed of 8-inch cement drain-pipe. 
Where cement pipe cannot be obtained vitrified, 
other kinds would do nearly as well. The 
brick part of the flue, as well as that formed by 
the pipe, is raised from the ground, on brick or 
flagging, so that it is kept free from damp, and 
that the radiation of the heat may be obtained 
from all sides. As will be seen by the sketch, 
the flues are so built as to be under the centre 
or middle bench; each flue forms a length of 
about 100 feet in this distance; the “rise” 
should be about 1 foot in 100—that is, the 
point where the flue starts from the neck of the 
furnace should be one foot lower than where it 
■enters the chimney. The novelty of this man¬ 
ner of constructing a flue consists in building 
the chimney directly upon the top of the fur¬ 
nace where the two flues, ^after running for 
a length of a hundred or more feet each, 
(as shown in the sketch), enter it, and this 
method of placing the chimney on the furnace 
is the key to the whole improvement—the 
continued heat given out by the furnace is suf¬ 
ficient to drive back the cold or outer air that 
would necessarily force its way down the 
■chimney before the heated air running through 
the long length of flue could get around, and 
hence our experience in long horizontal flues 
of a “ bad draft.” Ify this ingenious plan the 
draft is made perfect, and a thorough radiation 
of heat from the flue in all its length is secured. 
Mr. John Dick, (a neighbor of Mr. Harris), 
w T ho probably has the largest area of green¬ 
houses on the Continent, and which are mainly 
heated by double flues as in Mr. Harris’ case, 
says that he never before saw or heard of this 
plan of starting the chimney on the furnace, so 
it would appear that Mr. Harris has the honor of 
the invention. Mr. Dick attaches great import¬ 
ance to it, and probably no man in the country 
has had better opportunities of knowing or bet¬ 
ter able to judge than he. The cost of a flue so 
constructed would probably not exceed $200, 
while for the same glass structure, if heated 
by hot water, the apparatus would cost not 
less than $1,000. This system of double flue 
would be equally applicable to a greenhouse of 
half the length, the only difference being that 
a furnace bar of 24 or 30 inches would be 
enough, and the area inside of the brick flue and 
pipes need not be more than 0 inches. It is 
necessary to take great care that both flues start 
from the furnace and be continued exactly at 
the same level, otherwise the higher one would 
draw the heat away from the other. 
Notes from the Pines. 
When I sent you twenty odd varieties of 
grapes, that you might see what could be done 
on my light, sandy soil, what did you do ? In¬ 
stead of eating them “ judgmatically ” and 
comparing one with another, you set the whole 
lot in the window with, as I learn, a placard, 
“ Grapes from the Pines !” Of course all the 
passers on Broadway looked at the grapes, and 
the tens out of the hundreds and thousands 
who saw them, were sufficiently interested to 
ask questions. As a consequence of this pub¬ 
licity, I am asked among other questions : 
“ What is the best grape ?”—“ What grapes 
shall I plant ?”—“ Where can I get vines of”— 
this, that, or the other kind. The best way to 
satisfy these questions is in print, and if my 
“ Notes ” are this time 
All About Grapes, you have only your¬ 
selves to blame for putting my products in so 
conspicuous a place. To begin at the other 
end, and answer the last question first, as to 
Where to buy Vines. —It is safe to say 
that every grape worth 
growing, and that will 
succeed, east of the 
Mississippi, can be had 
of any regular nursery¬ 
man. The advertising 
pages of your paper 
give the cards of nu¬ 
merous dealers, and 
for any grape that people in general need 
to plant, these nurserymen can supply them. 
All the varieties I exhibited are in all first 
class nurseries; I have more than twice 
as many varieties as I sent, some not in bear¬ 
ing ; some have borne, but if I have my 
way they never will again, at least not in my 
vineyard. Some grapes cannot have their 
merits tested in one or two years, while others 
are so undeniably bad that their fate can be de¬ 
cided at once. The question 
“What Grapes Shall I Plant?” is an 
easy and a difficult one to answer. If one 
wishes grapes and a plenty of them, without 
being very particular as to quality, and if he 
thinks he has done his whole duty when he has 
lOO FEET 
DIAGRAM OP GREENHOUSE—COURSE OF PLURS. 
set his vines and given them something to run 
upon, let him by all means get the Concord. I 
of course do not refer to the far Southern 
States, but east, and west, and north of Geor¬ 
gia, this is thus far the universal grape. Al¬ 
though of Eastern origin, the farther west it is 
grown, anywhere this side of the Rocky Moun¬ 
tains, the better it is. In New England it is 
eatable, in Ohio it is good, and in Missouri it is 
so much better as to appear unlike the same 
grape. When we leave the Concord, telling 
people what grapes to plant is a risky matter. 
I see such a difference in localities close to one 
another, and such a difference one year with 
another in the behavior of the same varieties, 
on my own grounds, that I should hesitate to 
make out a list of six kinds fo my next neigh¬ 
bor. My little vineyard is esse., ally an exper¬ 
imental one for my own instruction. The soil, 
so far as I can see, is alike all over the piece, 
and no fertilizer has been used save one or two 
light dressings of bone. I have one Salem vine 
that gives a good crop of good fruit; 25 feet 
from it is a Salem, two years older, that has 
never borne a berry. Last year, and year be¬ 
fore, the Croton was splendid, this year not 
worth picking; this year the Ionas are very 
fair, the only crop in three years, and so it 
goes. Many varieties behave in such an un¬ 
reasonable manner, that the experience of one 
year is no indication as to what they will do 
next. But one thing I do know: you may go 
to my Concord vines any year with a wheel¬ 
barrow, while to most of the other sorts a 
hand-basket will suffice. My own experience 
makes me hesitate when asked what grapes to 
plant. To the question 
What is the best Grape, I can only 
answer the inquirer: • “ The best is the one 
which will grow on your place and give you 
fruit.” If the question refers only to quality 
of fruit without regard to the difficulty or un¬ 
certainty of producing it, my choice would not 
suit the majority. I like a high vinous flavor 
in a grape, while most pei’sons look for sweet¬ 
ness. To my taste the choice would be be¬ 
tween the Alvey and Senasqua, while 19 in 20 
would prefer the over-sweet and cloying Dela¬ 
ware to either. Perhaps I can make my expe¬ 
rience of some use to inquirers, by giving my 
opinion of the leading varieties as they behave 
on my place. When I procured the vines four 
and five years ago, I selected those kinds which 
were for the most part but little known, al¬ 
though none are rare at the present time. 
Alvey .—Quality exquisite, but bunches usu 
ally poor. 
Agawam (Rogers’ 15).—Hardly worth growing, 
Black Hawk .—Great earliness was claimed 
for this seedling of the Concord. With me it 
is not early, and not good for anything when it 
does come—worthless. 
Barry (Rogers’ 43).—This is earlier than the 
Concord, larger berry, good bunch, and a much 
better grape. This has so many good qualities, 
the vine being as healthy and hardy as can be, 
that I am surprised no more is said about it. It 
would bring a much better price in the market 
than the Concord, and for home use it is greatly 
preferable. 
Canada .—Neither this nor the others of Mr. 
Arnold’s varieties have done well with me. 
Crending .—This excellent early grape has 
not failed to give a good crop. The small and 
irregular bunches, which unfit it for market, 
are not objectionable for home use. 
Croton —It is already been stated that this 
