298 
THE COTTAGE GARDENER AND COUNTRY GENTLEMAN, February 14, 1860. 
the most projecting part of the rock garden with Bam- 
busa falcata, which is more hardy than the Pampas ; 
in front of the Bamboo plant as many Pampas Grass as 
the place will hold, at twenty feet apart, in the most 
irregular way; the Canna discolor can then occupy the 
centre spaces between the Pampas plants ; and behind the 
Pampas, if the Cannas are up to five feet—or in advance 
of the Pampas, if the Cannas are low plants at turning- 
out time. Then go to the windows, or to where this 
place is most seen from, and send a man with tall stakes 
in among the groups. Let him tie a piece of newspaper 
to the top of each stake, and let him drive down a stake 
in every place you will tell him, and that will be the 
places for the Tritomas, and you cannot have too many 
of them. All that he will have to mind is to see that his 
stake is not too near a plant, and the care on your part 
is to see that none of the Tritoma plants run in straight 
lines, no matter if they be regular, or at regular dis¬ 
tances about the middle of the place; but towards the 
right and left have them so scattered and careless-like, as 
if they had found out the places by chance. The Yuccas 
and Aloes, and all their likes, at least to the number of 
seventy good kinds, may occupy a higher ground and 
nearer the rocks; and in the shade of the great trees, a 
little to this or that side, plant the tallest forms. 
D. Beaton. 
HEATING A SERIES OF HOUSES. 
From the plan sent by “II. B.,” I gather that the forcing- 
garden is bounded on the north by a wall 12 feet high, with a field 
outside. Twenty-eight feet from that wall are a couple of vineries 
in one range, each 18 feet by 12 feet. Yines planted inside, but 
with a border in front. Fifty-nine feet from the boundary-wall, or 
19 feet from the front of vineries, it is proposed to erect a range of 
three span-roofed houses, each 17 feet by 14 feet. The floor to 
be sunk eighteen inches below the ground level, so that the 
houses shall not shade the vineries. Beyond these it is proposed 
to make a pit for Melons and Cucumbers, with frame-ground and 
compost-ground, and potting-shed beyond; and the questions 
chiefly are, How to do this and heat them efficiently, it being 
desirable to have the boiler on the field-side of the boundary wall. 
It would also be desirable to heat a cold pit, 16 feet by 6 feet, 
near the w r est vinery. With these explanations, I will shortly 
glance at the inquiries made, though I do not pretend to be able 
to supply the place of a professional on the spot. 
I do not like mentioning tradesmen by name; but if you go 
to the expense of having a boiler large enough, so as to expose 
enough surface to the fire, there will be no objection that I 
know for having it and the furnace in the field outside the 
wall. The only objection in the shape of economy would be, I 
that you would have two pipes, each 28 feet long from the boiler. 
That, under such an arrangement, will be heat somewhat thrown 
away, as 28 feet w'ould have to be passed before reaching the 
vinerips ; and then, to avoid doorways, some six feet more would i 
have to be passed before the heating-pipes for each house could 
be fixed. II there is a strong reason for the boiler being placed j 
there, L would not mind that objection ; for even if the boiler 
wero placed between the houses, or in front of the contemplated 
pits, there would be considerable space to pass between them. 
If the channel for the pipes in either case is securely covered, and 
the channel left open at the end, the heat will pass into the house. 
In the present case, a low span-roofed pit might cover the space 
over the pipes from the wall to the vinery, and the heat would 
be sufficient to keep out frost in general circumstances. 
A boiler to heat these efficiently and early, whether saddle- 
backed, conical, or tubular, & c ., would cost from £10 to £20 ; 
and if great security is desirable, it would be as well to have two 
boilers in case of an accident. I am merely glancing at the 
idea of price, as that will depend somewhat on the quantity 
of piping wanted ; and that, again, will depend on the forcing 
being early or not. 
The first thing to be thought of, then, would be taking a four- 
inch flow and return pipe right from the boiler to the extremity 
of the pits to be heated. This would be something like 100 feet, 
which would swallow up 200 feet at once,- —merely for securing 
the means of heating. I do not know the slope of the ground^ 
but I should like these pipes to riso two or three inches from 
their start, at a short distance from the boiler to the extreme 
end, and a small air-pipe to be inserted there. Provided the flow- 
pipe comes from the top of the boiler, and the return enters near 
the bottom, it matters not whether for the length above stated 
the pipes are one above another or placed side by side. More 
space will be wanted if placed side by side, but junctions can be 
made with them more easily. Let it be clearly understood, how¬ 
ever, that as these main pipes are higher than the boiler, so all 
other pipes taken from them should be higher than these to 
secure rapid circulation. The depth at which you want pipes in 
pits should, therefore, be well considered, for the top of the boiler 
and these main pipes should be deeper still; at any' rate, I 
should like no pipes lower than the top of the boiler. 
The garden on the east side being shaded by trees, I would 
'make the west vinery the earliest; and through that, near its 
junction with the east vinery, I would carry the main pipes. 
These houses, I presume, are lean-tos. To avoid all doorways, 
four pipes should go round the ends and fronts, two connected 
with the flow-pipes, and two with the return, or three with the 
flow and one with the return. It matters not the height in 
moderation of these pipes above the mains, or how they are 
placed,—level, in stacks, or above each other, so that the com¬ 
munication with the mains is secured. Pipes must be taken 
through the division in the other house in a similar w'ay. For a 
late-house, two pipes would be sufficient. These must be sup¬ 
plied with valves to let heat on and off as required ; a T piece in 
each main pipe will enable this to be easily done. It is as well 
to have valves or stoppages for each pipe; but generally the 
stopping of the flow-pipe in the house arrests all circulation. 
Whatever the number of pipes in a house, it is only necessary to 
have one junction with the main flow and return. In the present 
case, two T junctions from the main would serve both houses ; 
and on the cross of the T the valves could be placed. 
Such valves, if of bruss, will hardly ever get out of order with 
good management. They add, however, materially to the ex¬ 
pense where economy is an object. To secure economy and 
simplicity, the returns may be managed as above; but one 
upright pipe may be taken to a cistern, a foot or fifteen inches 
square, and as much above the level of the heating-pipes in the 
house ; and two openings from that cistern wall furnish the flow- 
pipes for each house, and these openings may be stopped with 
wooden plugs as desired. I once managed some put up by the 
father of the present Mr. Weeks, and nothing could answer better 
than these wooden plugs. There was great variety of level of 
pipes, but none were below the level of the top of the boiler. 
The cold pit, 6 feet by 16 feet, has its front wall running in a 
line with the back wall of the vinery. Two three-inch pipes taken 
from the mains, along the back of the vinery if there is nothing in 
the way, may be taken round the pit, and will keep out frost. In 
fact, two along the front and one end would do that. The heat 
from the 18 feet in the house will not be lost; but if it is deemed 
advisable to keep the vinery quite cool, when it might be advis¬ 
able to heat the pit, then the pipes might pass along the border 
behind the vineries. Even here, again, this 18-feet-in-length 
space might be covered so as to preserve plants. 
The main pipes now pass through the vinery-border, and the 
walk behind the contemplated houses, through wdiat is designed 
for the middle house, and on to a pit or series of juts. If the 
Yines had not been planted inside, and the vinery-border were 
mostly raised above the ground level, the bottom of the border 
of the early-house might have been traversed by a series of pipes ; 
covered with open rubble or a chamber to excite the roots into 
action. Even if four small drains went below the border, com¬ 
municating with and not lower than this pipe-drain, or rather 
chamber, much heat would be diffused into the soil, the ends 
of the chamber being shut up, except a small opening to pre¬ 
vent the air in the drains being stagnant. If this should not 
be done, then if the two ends of the pipe-chamber are open, 
one into the vinery and the other into the new houses, little heat 
would be lost. If, again, an open grating or two communicated 
with that chamber from the external air, currents of fresh 
heated air would be thrown into either house at will. 
The length of the three new houses in one range is proposed, 
in the whole, to be 51 feet—that is, each house will be 17 feet 
long by 14 feet wide. Did the main pipes pass in a straight line 
they would cross the rnjddle house near the division separating 
it from the house on the east end. There will be no difficulty in 
heating each house separately, by each having a separate flow-and- 
return pipe connected with the mains by either of the modes 
spoken of for the vinery. These connecting-pipes for the west 
