Hot Water Beds

If hot water be the source of heat, the following sketch of the bed and frame employed by Mr. Mitchell, at Worsley, is about the best that can be employed. The objects kept in view when it was constructed, | were: - " 1st. A circulation of air with-! out loss of heat. 2d. A supply of moisture at command proportionable to the temperature. 3d. A desirable amount of bottom heat. 4th. A supply of external air (when necessary) without producing a cold draught.

Fig. 31.

"The method by which the first of these is accomplished, will be understood by referring to the section, in which a is the flow-pipes, bb b the return pipes in the chamber a. It is evident that, as the air in the chamber becomes heated, it will escape upwards by the opening c, and the cold air from the passage B will rush in to supply its place; but the ascending current of heated air coming in contact with the glass, is cooled, descends, and entering the passage b, passes into the chamber a, where it is again heated; and thus a constant circulation is produced. In order to obtain the second object, I have to some extent combined the tank and pipe systems.

"The flow-pipe a is put half its diameter into the channel c, which when filled with water, (or so far as is necessary,) gives off a vapour, exactly proportionable to the heat of the pipe and pit.

"The third requisition is produced by the surrounding atmosphere and heat- ing materials.

"The fourth is accomplished simply by lowering the upper sash; the cold air thus entering at the top only, falls directly into the passage b, and passes through the hot chamber before coming in contact with the plants. In order to test the circulation, I fixed a piece of paper near the front of the pit, and found the current to be so strong as to bend it backwards and give it a tremulous motion. When the heat in the chamber is 95°, in the open space over the bed it is 71°; in the bottom of the passage only 6CP; and in the mould in the bed it is 80°.

"The amount of vapour is regulated with the greatest facility, even from the smallest quantity to the greatest density." - Gard. Chron.

Mr. Latter, one of the most successful of cucumber growers, employs hot water, and he gives me these leading points in his culture. He sows in the first week of September, and the vines from this sowing will be in bearing and very strong before February. The seedlings are first shifted into sixty sized pots, secondly into twenty-fours, and lastly into the largest size. If to be trained on a trellis, the runner must not be stopped until it has, trained to a stick, grown through the trellis. The temperature in the pit or frame is kept as nearly 65° as possible during the night, and from 75° to 85° during the day; air being admitted night and day, little or much, according to the state of the weather. The bottom heat (Mr. Latter is the champion of the hot-water system) is kept as near as can be to 70°, although he finds that 85° does not hurt the plants. He waters them with soft water until February, and then employs liquid manure, taking care that the temperature of the liquid is always from 75° to 80°. The earth over the hot water tank or pipes ought not to be less than fifteen inches deep.

During severe frosts it is an excellent plan to keep a small floating light burning within the frame every night.