nce per 2-lb. loaf. With decker ovens a double
draw-plate may be used, the feet of the pedestal supporting the upper
draw-plate running on a rail outside, but parallel to the rail on
which the lower draw-plate runs. This arrangement, however, is more
applicable to small than large ovens. Or the lower oven may be fitted
with a draw-plate while the upper oven is served with a peel. The
draw-plate being at a lower level than the sole of an ordinary oven,
the upper deck may be worked with a peel without much difficulty.

The _decker_ oven is, as its name implies, an oven built over another
oven: in fact, sometimes a tier of three ovens is employed, placed one
above the other. The object is to secure a double or treble baking
surface without a very much larger outlay on fuel than would be
necessary for one oven. It is easy to understand that a double or
three decker oven might be constructed under conditions where it would
be impossible to place two or three ordinary ovens side by side.
Practical bakers are somewhat divided as to the actual economy of the
decker system; possibly it is a question of management. The upper oven
is heated by the gases which have passed under the oven beneath. A
double-decker oven on the flue principle could be heated by three
flues, one beneath the lower oven, another passing between the crown
of the lower and the sole of the top oven, and the third over the
crown of the upper oven. If a third oven were built over the second,
then a fourth flue would pass over the crown of the third and top
oven. In such an arrangement of flues the distribution of heat to the
ovens would be fairly equal, but no doubt the lower oven would be the
hottest. In addition to the flues, which should be straight and
accessible for cleaning, there ought also to be auxiliary flues by
which heat may be allowed to pass dampers to the upper portions of the
series of ovens. In this way the heat of the upper oven or ovens can
be regulated independently to a great extent of the bottom oven. The
power of regulating the heat of the ovens is very necessary, because a
baker doing what is called a mixed trade, that is to say, producing
cakes and pastry in addition to bread, must work his ovens at varying
temperatures. Cakes cannot be baked at the heat (about 450 deg. F.)
required by a batch of household bread. The richest fancy goods, such
as wedding and Christmas c