308 STATE HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. 



impossible to hold the glass on its bed, and to make the houses reasonably tight and 

 warm. The difficulties to be overcome in construction can best be appreciated by con- 

 sidering the fact that the expansion of a piece of iron, subject to the ordinarj- climate 

 changes, is equal to about IV^ inches in 100 feet, so that a house of this length would be 

 subject to a constant movement, varying with the thermometer. With the present 

 prices of material, the cost of such a roof, even if practicable, would be not less than 

 twice that of our ordinary wood construction. But the most serious difficulty W'ould be 

 found in economical warming. The metal, which is exposed on the outside and inside, 

 is an efficient conductor of heat and cold. Taking glass as the unit or base, an ordinary 

 wrought or galvanized iron bar will give off four times as much heat or cold as glass, 

 and a zinc bar will radiate six times as much. The surface of the ordinary metal bar 

 exposed in the house will approximate fully three inches, which would be equal to 

 twelve inches of glass exposure in its loss of heat in the winter, and its increase of tem- 

 perature in the summer. With zinc bars, the loss is 50 per cent, greater than with iron 

 bars. In addition to this loss by radiation, the increased loss by increased openings 

 must be considered, as it is impossible to construct the iron or zinc so as to make it as 

 tight as when wood is used. The expansion of the iron or zinc bars ( zinc expands two 

 and a half times as much as iron ) breaks the setting and frequently the glass. These 

 objections are so important that it is doubtful if they can ever be sufficiently overcome, 

 so that we can afford to build entire metal roofs. The best " iron greenhouse " that we 

 know of is one in which the frame work and supporting parts of the construction are all 

 iron, giving the desired durability, strength, and lightness, small wood bars and caps 

 being used for the setting of the glass. The difficulties of construction and heating are 

 entirely overcome; the wood is used only for a setting for the glass and has no strain or 

 weight to bear, and will last longer than light metal bars, which are soon destroyed by 

 oxidation and corrosion. 



Five years ago I erected a greenhouse 350 feet by 20, after this style, only the skeleton 

 of which is iron — that is, its posts, rafters, and purlines. Such a building would stand 

 for fifty years with but few repairs. The cost was about 25 per cent, greater than if the 

 frame had been of wood. It cost S20 per running foot, all complete, heating with steam 

 included; if of wood, the cost would have been about §15 per running foot. 



Mr. Patten of Iowa: If it is in order, I have a resolution to offer. In 

 view of the importance of the niirsery interests of the whole country, of the 

 correct naming of all fruits, ornamental trees, and plants, and of the great 

 aid that this society can give to the American Pomological society in its 

 effort to secure uniformity in the nomenclature of all fruits, be it 



Resolved, That this society earnestly recommend to the nurserymen throughout the 

 United States and Canada, that they, in the publication of their catalogues, conform to 

 the list of names adopted by the American Pomological society, and to the rules pre- 

 scribed by it for the naming and introduction of new fruits, as recommended to-day by 

 the Hon. H. E. VanDeman. 



Mr. YanDeman : I do wish to say to this body, of all the horticultural 

 meetings that I was ever in, you are the sole body that can put this matter 

 to actual operation. There are no other men in the whole country that can 

 do the one thousandth part of the good in this direction that the nursery- 

 men can, and if you do not take this thing in hand and put it through it 

 will never be done. If you do not do it, we never can do it, because the 

 published names are taken into the mouths of the agents, and they are 

 scattered into every hamlet in the wdiole country, and if you will take this 

 matter now in hand, I know that you will do yourselves and the country at 

 large a good, and at the same time avoid much confusion in nomenclature. 

 This of course can not be any arbitrary thing; there can be no dictation, and 

 it can only assume the form of a suggestion or recommendation, as the 

 resolution very fitly suggests. AVithoiit saying anything derogatory to any 

 nurseryman, it is a fact that a great many are comparatively ignorant; we 

 are all ignorant; a man may in all honesty have a fruit in his catalogue 

 under a name that perhaps is just a local synonym. If this committe will 

 sift out the synonyms and give the correct names, and adopt some plan like 



