The Garden Under Glass

HEATING AND STOKING 259 Stoking the Fire The work of stoking the fire needs some elucidation. The right method is to keep the fire well over the bars ; it is a great waste of firing to fire on the dead-plate. Free-dom from clinkers and ashes is another necessity to a well-regulated fire. These are got out by means of a clinker bar. The bar, which at one end is furnished with a cross piece, is thrust beneath the clinkers so as to uplift them. They are then turned over and withdrawn. By re-peatedly stirring the fire the ashes are made to escape through the bars into the ash-pit, whence they may be removed. Clinkers and ashes having been extracted, the live coals are levelled, and on these is shovelled more fuel. It is not a good plan to put on a great deal at a time, else the fire will give little heat for a considerable time, and afterwards if clinkers form it will be impossible to remove them until the fire has burned down low. Banking a Fire for the Night To get a fire to last all night, giving a steady heat and leaving a workable amount of live coals in the morning, is not a difficult matter. It requires only a little experi-ence. A large fire will not serve for banking in, for less fuel can be put on, and beyond giving out a tremendous heat for some little time there is every likelihood of the fire being out in the morning. The fire must be low at the time. Clear it of ashes and clinkers, rake it level, and commence to pile on the fuel. Large lumpy pieces may first be used, but as the filling in nears completion smaller