440 



The Weekly Florists' Review. 



SEPTEMBER 2S, 18SS. 



nailed in place we are ready to start 

 glazing. First place your boxes of 

 glass in a convenient row on bench up 

 the house at about the right distance 

 apart to use handily and take off the 

 covers. Three men and a boy consti- 

 tute a glazing gang with me, one man 

 getting caps ready by starting the 

 screws in their place, one screw in the 

 center of each pane, boy handing up 

 glass, one man laying it in place (and 

 he can lay it as fast as the boy can 

 hand it up), and one screwing down 

 caps. And I make a rule to screw 

 down tight, not any rattling panes, 

 please, but send the screw well home 

 even if you break an odd pane in do- 

 ing it. I should have said to have 

 ventilators hung before starting to 

 glaze, and let these be glazed as you 

 go along. After each row is laid and 

 screwed down fill the groove in ridge 

 above the glass with putty; this is all 

 the putty used. Glaze all ends and 

 gables down even with top of benches; 

 you cannot get too much light and sun 

 into your houses. 



A small galvanized iron trough un- 

 der the plate to take condensation and 

 drip at that point is a good thing, but 

 not absolutely necessary; if put on, 

 this trough should be about 2x2 inches, 

 with drop pipe every 20 feet; it makes 

 a nice finish and all drip is carried 

 down past steam pipes or benches. For 

 the valley where houses are attached 

 I make the arch and its supports carry 

 this drip to the ground, and as the 

 arches are placed every 12 feet they do 

 the work nicely. If the house or 

 houses built are end on to a shed I 

 like to glaze these ends as it gives 

 good light for shed, the glass being 

 always clear of frost. A door oppo- 

 site the end of each walk is very 

 convenient as it saves turning cor- 

 ners when carrying or wheeling any- 

 thing into or out of the houses. 

 Walks may be either of ashes or ce- 

 ment according to the taste or pocket 

 of the builder. 



Ventilating machinery must be 

 thought of in time to have it in place 

 as soon as the glass is on the roof. 

 There are lots of different devices for 

 raising and lowering ventilators, from 

 a piece of stick with a nail in it to an 

 automatic machine. I am using both 

 automatic and hand wheel machines, 

 both good and both are made by R. W. 

 King & Co., 503 Markham street, To- 

 ronto. I mention this, as I think they 

 are the only firm offering such in 

 Canada. Steam is in my estimation 

 the best medium for providing heat 

 for greenhouse structures. 



There are so many ways in which 

 the piping may be arranged according 

 to location of boiler, etc., that it would 

 be impossible for me here to lay down 

 any plan. There are a few leading 

 points I would like to make: If the 

 gravity system is to be used the boiler 

 room must be low enough so that the 

 water line of boilers will be at least 

 12 inches below the lowest steam 

 pipes; this is about as close as steam 

 will work to water line, while 2 feet 

 or more above that point will give a 



better working system. Large mains 

 and small returns should be the rule. 

 I will give a few examples of this. I 

 have a 12-inch main leading from my 

 boiler, but nothing larger than 1 inch 

 for returns. In one case I have an 

 inch return carrying the condensation 

 from 7,000 feet of 1^4-inch steam pipe 

 and it carries to perfection; this 1-inch 

 pipe has to carry said condensation 

 500 feet back to boilers. A 2-inch pipe 

 will feed 1,000 feet of 1%-inch pipe. 



The area of steam main should be 

 as large as the combined areas of take 

 offs. To determine this, find the square 

 of take-offs required to feed steam 

 pipes and put in a main with an area 

 of same size or a little larger. Both 

 steam and return pipes may be laid up 

 hill or down, but if a return is laid 

 to work up hill there must be an air 

 relief at its highest point. This relief 

 may be connected with any steam pipe 

 near at hand, or an air-cock may be 

 used, to be opened occasionally. 



It has been customary with many to 

 hang all steam pipes on outer walls, 

 with none towards center of houses, 

 but I think it best to distribute the 

 heat as evenly as possible through the 

 houses, and to this end hang my pipes 

 along both sides of every bench. In 

 such houses as I have described two 

 1%-inch pipes on each side of 6-foot 

 bench have been found about right for 

 ordinary kinds of roses, with an extra 

 one on outer walls. I find it impossi- 

 ble to cover all the little points in 

 building, but hope have given some 

 information that will be of use, and 

 any further advice I can offer will be 

 given most freely. 



EUROPEAN HORTICULTURE AS 

 VIEWED BY A CANADIAN. 

 By S. S. Bain. 

 [Read before the Canadian Horticultural Asso- 

 ciation at Ottawa. Sept. 20, IS99 I 



Mr. President and Gentlemen: — On 

 July 2nd of last year we sailed. When 

 I say "we" I wish you to understand 

 that I was not running away with 

 anyone. The "we" was my partner in 

 life, the one who has shared here part 

 of all my cares and struggles, my prof- 

 its and losses, my joys and sorrows. 

 We sailed away for the purpose of en- 

 joying a good holiday, which only 

 came at the end of twenty-five years 

 of our life together, and twenty-seven 

 of my leaving my native land. Now, 

 we did not go to Vancouver to get to 

 Liverpool, as a Chinaman might do, 

 because you know they always do 

 things in the opposite way to us; but 

 we went aboard the Vancouver at 

 Montreal and sailed in this way (the 

 proper way) to Liverpool, where, after 

 a grand passage, we arrived early a 

 Monday morning. 



From Liverpool we went direct to 

 London by a special fast express 

 which traveled at the rate of over 

 fifty miles an hour, counting stoppings. 

 The road led through a rich, fertile 

 country, more like a garden than 

 farmland in comparison to those we 

 are in the habit of looking upon. We 



possess too much land, and hence the 

 cultivation by the owner is poor and 

 slovenly compared with that part of 

 the Old World. We looked upon field 

 after field of golden wheat with straw 

 from five to six feet long carrying 

 heads of grain, which changed with 

 every summer breeze which passed 

 over them into lights and shadows 

 gladdening to the heart, and as if they 

 sang this song: We are ready for the 

 reaper; "put ye forth the sickle." 



Along either side of this railway 

 track for two hundred miles was a 

 hawthorne hedge, kept in the most 

 perfect order, with all the grass upon 

 the sloping sides of the embankments 

 cut and cleaned as if it was an avenue 

 to some private mansion. By this 1 

 received my first lesson to carry back 

 with me to this country, which will 

 help me to plant and grow more 

 hedges. We need them here as much, 

 or more, than they do over there. 

 Something to protect our tender plants 

 from the cold, biting winds of fall and 

 spring. 



Everywhere we went could the faith 

 of the people in hedges be seen in pri- 

 vate and commercial grounds. No- 

 where, however, can it be met with 

 more than in Belgium and Holland. 

 There the hedge seems to be a neces- 

 sity. In the bulb district of Holland, 

 where the soil is of a light, sandy na- 

 ture, hedges are planted along every 

 field to prevent the strong winds which 

 blow across that flat country from 

 driving the sand from the land, and 

 for protecting the tender growth of 

 the bulbs from their biting influence. 

 There hedges are not allowed to grow 

 yards wide, or so high as to over- 

 shadow anything. No; this would be 

 ridiculous and injurious; they would, 

 in this form, become a curse instead 

 of a blessing. Instead of this they are 

 clipped very hard and kept down to 

 between four and five feet, and about 

 a foot and eighteen inches through. 

 This is only in the bulb district. In 

 private places, on the other hand, 

 hedges are very much higher and 

 broader, and fnuch more beautiful. And 

 what can be more beautiful about a 

 private residence than a well grown 

 and well kept hedge? It is at once 

 the cheapest, most lasting and most 

 becoming fence for beauty and protec- 

 tion which can be put up. It is for 

 all of us to provide for and encourage 

 the planting of hedges. There is money 

 in it to the men who can provide a 

 first-class hedge plant and who will 

 undertake to plant them and care for 

 them as they require. 



In some commercial places hedges of 

 great height were seen and every time 

 when a question was asked, "What use 

 are such hedges?" the answer came 

 quickly and direct: "Can't do without 

 them if we are to grow tender plants." 

 In the grounds of H. Cannell & Sons, 

 Swanley, Kent, some of the hedges 

 were over fifteen feet high, planted in 

 squares. The answer received from 

 this old gentleman was the same: "The 

 best thing we have, sir, for protec- 

 tion." 



