With no prejudice against good furnaces, it may be said that hot water apparently affords the greatest possibilities for comfort and regularity of heating, and that there are usually no reasons why it cannot be utilized in country houses. A hot-water installation is likely to cost twice as much as a furnace, but if we are to live in the house it is better to make our estimates cover ten or twenty years rather than to bear too strongly on first costs.

The following table, while it must not be taken as fully conclusive, gives at least a basis of consideration:

Hot Air.

Steam.

Hot Water.

First cost .....................................

Small.

Higher.

Highest.

Comparative coal consumption ...........................................

18 1/2 tons.

13 1/2 tons.

10 tons.

Average durability ......................

12 years.

35 years.

* Indestructible.

Heat distribution .........................

Uneven.

Regular.

Even.

Temperature ................................

Variable.

Fair.

Regular.

Ventilation ................................

Good, if properly managed.

Good, with indirect system.

Good, with indirect system.

Quality of heated air ....................

Ditto.

Ditto.

Ditto.

Dust and dirt ..............................

Much.

Little.

None.

Danger or fire ...........................

Moderate.

None.

None.

Danger of explosion .....................

Slight.

None.

None.

Noise .........................................

None.

Occasional.

Almost none.

Management ..............................

* Delightful.

*Pleasure.

*Joy.

Relative cost of apparatus..

9

13

15

Ditto, plus repairs and fuel for five years ..................

29 1/2

29 2/3

27

Ditto, plus repairs and fuel for fire years........

81

63

52 1/2

* Makers* statement.

These comparisons are probably, on the whole, somewhat unfair to the high-grade furnace.