598 . ANNUAL REPORT OF THE Oflf. Doc. 



that when tender crops such as cucumbers and tomatoes are grown 

 in midwinter that tlie danger from draughts would be much less 

 in wide than in narrow houses. 



HEATING 



At Ashtabula and Cleveland nearly all of the houses are heated 

 by steam. At Toledo hot water is the popular method of heating. 

 Anyone who thinks hot water not practicable for large plants should 

 visit Searles Brothers' eight acre plant. The water is pumped 

 through the system. The heating pipes as I remember are all IJ 

 inch pipes. They are run in sets near the surface of the ground, 

 one set under each gutter. The houses are 750 feet long and the 

 heating pipes half that length. In our own houses in which there 

 are 20,000 sq. feet of glass we heat with hot w^ater. The boiler is 

 a Kroeschell with a mercury generator attached. The heating pipes 

 are two-inch, one flow and two return in each set. For houses the 

 size of ours or smaller there is no doubt but that hot water is the 

 most economical method of heating. It would take a careful set of 

 experiments conducted over a long period of time to determine 

 whether steam or hot water is most economical for large plants. 



GLAZING 



'The most popular size of glass is the 16 by 24 double strength 

 A. glass. B. glass is used in a few instances and a very few grow- 

 ers use single strength. In most cases the 16 by 24 glass is laid the 

 16 inch way. The glass on our own houses is laid the 24 inch way. 

 This gives a very light house and has been quite satisfactory. Once 

 last winter when we had an unusually heavy snow and drifts formed 

 to a depth of from .3 to 4 feet in the gutters, several glasses were 

 cracked. It would seem from this experience that it would not be 

 wise to space the glass the wide way in a section of the country 

 where heavy snows are common. If the glass is spaced the 24 inch 

 way it is advisable to have some glass, either in the sides of the house 

 or in the roof of a small house spaced the narrow way. This should 

 be done so that use can be made of the panes of glass from which 

 small corners are broken. 



There is quite a difference of opinion as to whether butted or 

 lapped glass is to be preferred. As a general thing there is less drip 

 from lapped than from butted glass. On the other hand butted 

 glass is more secure than tapped as the cap holds it is place. Butted 

 glass is usually easier to keep in repair than lapped. 



SOIL AND SOIL TREATMENT 



The soil at Ashtabula is very sandy while that at Cleveland and 

 Toledo is a sandy loam. It might seem from this that sand is neces- 

 sary in the vegetable forcing business. This is not the case, how- 

 ever, as it has been demonstrated by the Experiment Station and 

 several growers throughout the state that heavy soils will give re- 

 sults equal to sandy soils. In any case large amounts of organic 

 matter should be added to the soil. T would as soon have clay loam 

 as sand for the basis of the soil for forcing. The soil in our green- 



