3©4 
THE RURAL NEW-YORKER 
March 23, 
WOOD FUEL FOR GREENHOUSES. 
On page 273 G. A. M. inquires re¬ 
garding the use of wood for greenhouse 
heating in a house 30 to 40 feet long by 
18 feet wide. The plan is entirely prac¬ 
tical for a small house, if the stove is 
large enough so that not too close at¬ 
tention is required, though during very 
cold weather 1 think he will want some 
coal, as wood docs not give off a very 
constant heat. The Winter following 
the miners’ strike we could not obtain 
sufficient coal, and burned eight car¬ 
loads of cord wood. By adding a fair 
amount of hard coal screenings each 
time wood was placed in fire we could 
keep up a fairly steady steam pressure, 
but wood alone required very close at¬ 
tention. 
The stove could be made to carry heat 
much longer, and give off at all times a 
more uniform heat, by lining the entire 
inside surface with a casing of fire brick 
about three inches thick. This lining 
should extend clear from grate to top 
of stove, and entire way around except 
at door, and should be made of Port¬ 
land cement one part, fire clay one part, 
and fire brick, broken rather fine, four 
parts. The fire brick should be the kind 
regularly used for lining fire boxes or 
steam boilers, and should break up eas¬ 
ily into granular pieces of small size 
when crushed. Take a piece of sheet 
iron and form it into the same shape 
as inside of stove, allowing sufficient 
space to run concrete in so as to give 
a thickness of three inches more or less. 
This concrete will adhere tight to the 
inside of stove, and will conduct heat 
to surface of stove, from which it will 
radiate for quite a long period after fire 
becomes quite low. This concrete should 
be allowed to dry slowly before firing 
up stove. We have used this same mix¬ 
ture over the doors of our steam boil¬ 
ers for a good many years, and find it 
stands the heat much better than the 
heavy iron castings usually furnished 
for this purpose. If coal is burned in 
a stove so lined the lining will greatly 
add to the economy of fuel consump¬ 
tion, as the hot concrete will assist to. 
ignite the gases given off by combus¬ 
tion of the fuel. 
Now to apply the heat to the green¬ 
house. Merely placing the stove in a 
room adjoining the greenhouse and run¬ 
ning the smoke pipe through the house 
will not be satisfactory, unless a pit is 
dug out, and the old style smoke flues 
are built through the house. If the 
stove must be placed in a room at the 
end of the house, make that room as 
near airtight as it is possible to do it, 
except side adjoining house. Be sure 
about this, as it is most important. Also 
have this room as small as possible, and 
if convenient dig it out two or three 
feet deep. After the stove is in position 
encircle it entirely with sheet iron, al¬ 
lowing the casing to extend six inches 
or a foot above top of stove, and keep¬ 
ing it up from floor about four inches, 
or possibly six inches. Allow a space 
between outside of stove and this sheet 
iron casing about six or eight inches 
wide all around. The openings neces¬ 
sary to charge fire and remove ashes 
should be closed when these operations 
are finished. The principle here is to 
get a hot-air circulation, the hot air 
passing to far end of greenhouse and 
dropping down returns to heater on bot¬ 
tom of house. The room containing the 
stove should be tight only on all sides 
except the one adjoining house, which 
may be either removed entirely or have 
large openings at top for hot air, and 
other openings at bottom to alio wre- 
turn of cool air. 
A better plan would be to place stove 
below ground level in centre of green¬ 
house where heat can radiate in all di¬ 
rections, but even in this manner you 
will not be able to heat distant corners 
of house unless you place the sheet iron 
shield, or casing, around heater, to 
cause air to circulate in a definite man¬ 
ner. One of the chief faults of this sys¬ 
tem is the dry heat given off at a high 
temperature in house, which causes red 
spider to spread rapidly unless vigorous 
methods are used to keep them from 
spreading. By placing a large heater in 
centre of house it would be possible to 
heat a house 50 feet long or even longer 
in this manner, even in severe weather. 
T he heater could be constructed of No. 
10 boiler plate in an oblong form, with 
an oval top, the sides and ends being 
lined with concrete and the smoke flue 
taken out at the rear on a level with the 
grate bars. Greater fuel economy will 
be realized by so doing in any heater or 
stove, if possible, than to allow thq 
smoke and gases to pass out at top of 
heater. This method may seem too sim¬ 
ple to be effective by some, but it has 
been tried out here and not found want¬ 
ing even in severe weather. Anyone 
having a large room or workshop that 
is difficult to heat with an ordinary 
stove will find a great difference by 
placing such a casing around same, al¬ 
lowing sufficient space at bottom for 
cold air to enter and pass up by the 
stove as it becomes warm. You will be 
it over and then try to chop it up with a 
Cutaway or spading harrow. Then broad¬ 
cast a ton of burnt lime to the acre and 
go over it again. Then seed to grass and 
clover- chiefly Alsike for the latter. Grass 
will do better here, evidently than any 
other crop. If we could not take all the 
field at once we should take a small part 
and do it as well as possible. If anyone 
has ever done such a job we want to know 
how he did it. 
Books Worth Buying. 
Fertilizers ; by Voorhees ; the standard 
work on this subject.$1.25 
The Nursery Book; by Bailey; all about 
the propagation of trees, shrubs and plants, 
with an extensive nursery list.$1.50 
Farm and Garden Rule Book ; the Hor¬ 
ticulturist’s Rule Book, revised and great¬ 
ly enlarged .$2.00 
Forage Crops ; by Voorhees; a thorough 
discussion of the various plants used for 
green and dry crops used for live stock 
feeding; methods of soiling, etc.$1.50 
Swine in America; by Coburn; the ac¬ 
knowledged authority on this subject..$2.50 
Bush Fruits ; by Card; an excellent 
guide to small fruit culture.$1.50 
Farmers of Forty Centuries ; by King; 
a most interesting work, tolling in detail 
methods of conserving plant food prac¬ 
ticed by the Chinese and other Orient¬ 
als .$2.50 
The Book of Alfalfa; by Coburn; full 
account of best methods of handling this 
valuable plant.$2.00 
Law for the American Farmer; by 
Green; a most useful reference book for 
farm use .$1.50 
Melon Culture ; by Troop; of special 
interest to gardeners.50 
A B C of Bee Culture; by Root; this 
tells the whole story about bees both for 
amateur and commercial work.$1.50 
All for sale by The Rural New-Yorker, 
409 Pearl St., New York. 
surprised how it will warm up corners 
of the room. elmkr j. weaver. 
G. A. M., of Asheville, N. C., makes 
inquiry about heating a small green¬ 
house with wood. Having had experi¬ 
ence for three years will say I built 
one 12 x 30, nine feet back and six 
front, benches running across one end 
and both sides about four feet from 
ground, a plank walk through center 
two feet 10 inches from top of beds. 
Stoves are set under each side about 20 
feet from chimney, letting pipes from 
each run directly under the beds. I can 
give the house sufficient heat, although 
we often have it 20 below zero here in 
March. I prefer wood heat, for with 
CKTCn onnu—Yellow Dunf., Tnip. Early-Learning 
vLLU uunn and White Cap. Tented Seed. Also SEKI) 
OAT& Catalog free. THKO. BURT A SONS, Melroae. Ohio. 
F™ g-> Q A ■ p—Sweet Potato Seed, 
” L- Ih Berry Plants, all 
kinds Nursery Stock. Catalogue Free. 
M. N. BOKGO, - - - VINELAND, N. J. 
Q A T T7 SEED OATS and CORN. 
I WXV OTY-LiEv c. Coolidoe. Clifton Snrinus. N.Y. 
OATS —The New Sensation 
Big Yieldors. Prico Moderate. Grown on New 
Land. For sale by 
JOHN II. STOCKER.Angola, N. Y. 
Peach and Apple Trees 
For fall or spring planting. Prices right; stock 
right. MYEK & SON, Hridgeville, Delaware 
True-to-Name Catalpa Trees moneVTIck 0 " 
not true speciosa. Also Catalpa Seed.f 1 Cypress 
trees, most beautiful In the world. Free booklet. 
H. C. ROGERS, Box ill Mcchanlcsburg, Ohio 
BOOK 
Guaranteed to Bloom 
Specially selected to suit your 
locality. On their own roots, 
guaranteed to qrow and bloom. 
Vigorous, healthy bushes, bear¬ 
ing an abundance of fragrant 
blooms. All colors. 
Conard&JonesRoses 
Wo guarantee entire satisfaction. Write for our 
umipH 1 New Rose Iiook, showing leading i 
mumajj ln na j ura i colors. Rose Lover 
Free Calendar, “How to Grow Roses,” 
and Free Delivery Offer. 
THE CONARD & JONES CO., Box 4, West Grov8, Pa. 
Rose Specialists — r,o years* experience. 
roses 
| in Gardening 
f Here’s a 100 page book of letters, 
from Successful and Expert i 
Nytpyfljr GardenerseivingtheinsideSecrets 
^ of how they make garden' 
ing pay big. Tells how you can 
Make $400. An Acre^§? 
I'm giving this book free with orders for | 
$■-’.00 worth of Buedfl--otherwiBe 25c, which 
will be refunded on first order. Its I rnrr 
worth more to yon than all the text 11 l\LL 
(books in creation. 
jTclls how to overcome ob¬ 
stacles, and how these 
/people grew big crops in 
\a dry year, and made 
j gardens of all sizes pay. 
'Get your copy; also free 
^catalog. Write today 
HENRY FIELD 
Box BC 
Shenandoah, 
r.yjA V Iowa. 
I TO MY 
iStomers 
Po/c 
'folk 
CLOVER a "d TIMOTHY i 7 ^!? 
ClieiipcHt an<l first. Srediius Known. 
Alsike, Clover and Timothy mixed. Fully one-third Al¬ 
sike, a great bargain. Most wonderful hay and pasture 
combination that grows. Write for FREE SAMPLE and 
our large 76-page catalog describing this wonderful grass 
mixture and be convinced. Far ahead of anything you 
can sow and ridiculously cheap* Write before advance. 
A. A. BERRY SEED CO., Bo j560 C LARIN DA, IOWA- 
MELILOTU S 
The choicest and one of the boBt soil restorers known. 
We have a fine lot of seed that we can retail at less 
than ordinary wholesale prices. Onr seed Is hulled, 
yellow blossom. GUARANTEED TO GROW. This 
plant is also a splendid preparation for alfalfa. 
ALFALFA 
All northern grown, guaranteed to bo 
99 per cent pure and free from dodder. 
Write for free sample. 
THE WING SEED COMPANY 
BOX 883 MECHANICSBURG, OHIO 
any other it is too much trouble keep¬ 
ing cool enough during sunshiny days. 
I have usually April 15 over 30,000 
plants in beds and flats or shelves. Then 
many are put into hotbeds to finish up. 
I should not have the stove in a sep¬ 
arate room as you state. 
St. Johnsbury Co., Vt. E. H. H. 
Some years ago I built a small green¬ 
house and heated it entirely with wood. 
I built solid beds and ran the smoke 
flue under the beds on both sides and 
the end. I first built a brick arch at 
the end or one bed and used six-inch 
glazed tile as far as they would go, and 
then finished with brick and common 
stovepipe. I made a square coil of one- 
inch iron pipe and put it inside of the 
arch on an incline of about 40 degrees, 
bo that the smoke and heat would # pass 
through it, then 1 extended one end up 
six or eight inches above the top of 
the beds and just under the bottom of 
the sash at the rafter r'^te along to the 
centre of the end of the house, then 
put on a tee and screw in a 12-inch piece 
of pipe perpendicularly, and on top I 
put an eight-inch diameter by 12-inch 
expansion tank and fastened it to the 
standpipe with two lock nuts. Then 
extended the horizontal pipe across the 
rest of the end and along the other side 
and then down the end to a level with 
the bottom of the coil, and connected 
with a union. That allowed the hot 
water to rise and flow around the house 
and, cooling, flow back to the coil again. 
All water of evaporation can be re¬ 
placed in the expansion tank, always 
using cast-iron elbows and tees. This 
was a perfect success at a temperature 
as low as 20 and 30 degrees below zero, 
with a day temperature of 65 degrees 
and at night 60 degrees. 1 tried a stove, 
and it was a failure, too much smoke 
and too little heat. G. A. goodwin. 
Cayuga Co., N. Y. 
Cleaning Out Brakes. 
I have a piece of pasture land of about 
50 acres that is nearly half covered with 
common field brakes. It is so rough and 
stony that it cannot he plowed. Can you 
give me any way that I can get rid of the 
ferns? s. m. w. 
Walton, N. Y. 
This is pretty much of a local question. 
If we understand it the “brakes" show that 
the land is sour and hard. We should hum 
SEED CORN 
Write today for our Free Catalogue telling how 
we select and dry the seed and showing actual 
photographs of our high yielding varieties. 
C. C.VALK, It. No. TO, New Carlisle, O. 
SEED POTATOES 
MAINE GROWN—EARLY and LATE. 
COBBLERS A SPECIALTY- CATALOG. 
A. H. HOFFMAN.BAMFOKO, FA. 
Pure Field Seeds 
! Glover, Timothy,Alsike, Alfalfa and all kinds of 
. Pure Field Seeds direct from producer to con¬ 
sumer; free from noxious weeds. Ask forsamploa 
A. C. HOYT & CO., Fostoria, Ohio. 
ONION SEED germinatFon 
Yellow Danvors, $1.10: Yellow Globe Danvers, $1.25; 
Southport Yellow Globe, $1.50: Ohio Yellow Globe, 
$1.50: Prizotaker, $1.40; Southport Rod Globe, $1.40; 
lied Wethersfield, $1.25 perjtound, postpaid. 
ONION SETS — Fancy Yollow, $2.25; White. 
$2.75 bushel. 
Write for Seed Catalog and FREE trial pkt. of 
Now Enkhuizeu Glory Cabbage. 
J. AUG. DRAKE, Seedsman, 100 Main St., Chester, N. J. 
WEEDLESS FIELD S E|ED 
is what we are trying to furnish onr customers. 
FREE samples will convince you that wo come 
pretty near doing it. lied. Mammoth, Alsiko. 
Alfalfa, Timothy, vetch, Rape, etc. Write today, 
O. M. SCOTT & SON, lOMainSt., Marysville, O. 
If " S&lzcr'a Potatoes arc known the 
world over for extremo carlineas. 
Tbc editor of the Bur&l New Yorker (-“/cfiff'J 
gives to Solzer’i Earliest Potato the ax -J 
tonishing yield of i(A bushels per acre! 
r Salzer’s Earliest Potato Collection. 
I Composed of four rare earliest and one 
"later «ort, Beparately packed, full weight. 
[ per bbl. only $4.00. Catalog tcllil 
For 16 Cents. 
j 10,000 kernels of splendid Lettuce, Radish, 
I Tomato, Cabbage, Turnip, Onion, Celery, 
I Parsley, Carrot, Melon and Flower Heeds 
I producing bushels of vegetables and , 
f flowers for 10c postpaid. tej 
I Big vegetable und farm secdcata- J ' 
loguo free for the asking. 
^ John A. Salzer Seed Co., (mffiWjjkmu '* 
144 So. 8th St., La Crosse, 
For Reliable Seeds 
Bought direct from the farming community, and 
sold direct to the fanner:—Medium and Mammoth 
Clover, Alsike, Alfalfa, White and Crimson Clover, 
Timothy, Rape. Red Top, Blue Grass, Orchard 
Grass, Barley, Rye, Spring Wheat, all kinds of 
Seed Corn and Peas. Freight prepaid your Rail¬ 
road Station. Write for Samples and prices. 
N. Wertheimer & Sons, Ligonier, Ind. 
r 
FOB ALL KINDS OF 
p p I Q O [ CLOVER and FIELD SEEDS 
Ullnuu ALSO A FULL LINE OF 
orrno garden and flower seeds 
O LLUO write this old reliable house 
Catalog Freo and Price List of Grass and; D 
Field Seeds niailod you on application 
THE HENRY PHILIPPS SEED & IMPLEMENT CO..Toledo, 0. 
5 PKTS.SEED FRFF 
READ SPECIAL OFFER BEIOW I FILL 
'or only 10c we send our large 112 
page seed Annual and five packets ^ 
flower seeds or five packets vegetable 
seeds, and then we return the money in 
the form of a due bill good for 
10c to apply on any order 
amounting to 50c or more. 
Isbell’s Seeds 
Are utrictly freah, vital, Mich- 
igan grown. Sold at very mode¬ 
rate prices. Perfect satisfaction 
or money refunded. Send today. 
tteed A n n u n 1 Free 
to Heed UserH. 
S. M. ISBELL & CO., Seedsmen 
190 Pearl St., Jackson, Mich. 
Rees nn tKie Farm Gleanings in Beo 
L»ees on me r arm culture” win help 
you got move pleasure and more profit from Bee 
keeping. Six months' trial subscription, 25c. 
Book on Bees and Catalog of Supplies sont free. 
TIIE A. I. ROOT COMPANY, Box 250, Medina, Ohio 
Eberle’s 4 selected varieties. Plant at same time—mature in succession, 
giving corn all summer. You cannot find any better varieties. 
Extra Early White Cob Cory Country Gentleman 
Early Prolific Stowell's Evergreen 
Large packet of each by mail 40c. 
Try our DOLLAR COLLECTION of Flower Seeds, full size packets contain¬ 
ing only the highest quality seeds—will produce flowers for decorative 
purposes throughout the summer and autumn months. 
Write for 1912 Illustrated Seed Annual, giving description 
of specially selected strains of Vegetable and Flower Seeds. 
FREDERICK W. EBERLE. Seedsman. 116 So. Peart St., Albany.N.Y. 
