236 



The following varieties are especially commended: Strawberries — 

 Augur's ^o. 70, Belmont, Bubacb, Gandy, Haverland, Jessie, and War- 

 field ; raspberries — Hansel, Marlboro, and Cuthbert; blacliberries — Aga- 

 wam, Erie, and Minnewaski. 



Massachusetts Hatch Station, Meteorological Bulletins, Nos. 16-21 



(pp. 4 each). 



These include a daily and monthly summary of observations from 

 April to September, 1890, inclusive, made at the meteorological obser- 

 vatory of the station, in charge of C. D. Warner. 



Michigan Station, Bulletin No. 63, July, 1890 (pp. 27). 



Greenhouse construction and heating, L. R. Taft, M. S. (illus- 

 trated). — Two forcing-houses, each 30 by 20 feet, with suitable work- 

 rooms, furnace-rooms, etc., were recently built at this station. "As 

 they were to be considered experimental forcing-houses, it was thought 

 l)est to make them, so far as was possible, experimental in their con- 

 struction, by combining in them various methods of glazing, heating, 

 and ventilating." The methods of their construction, the ventilating 

 machinery, furnaces, etc., are described in detail and illustrated with 

 cuts. One house is heated with steam, the other with hot water. A 

 test of the two methods of heating made from December, 1889, to April, 

 1890, inclusive, is reported, with daily records of the temperature out- 

 side and inside each house and of the coal consumed by each furnace. 



The following shows the average temperature and amount of coal 

 consumed daily in each of the houses during four months : 



December 



Januaiy 



February 



March 



Average 



Atmos- 

 phere. 



31. 78 

 27 



25.6 

 22.85 



26.81 



Hot- 

 water 

 house, 

 6 a. m. 



54.9 

 54.1 

 55.57 

 51.9 



54.87 



Steam 

 house, 

 6 a. m. 



52.4 

 52.5 

 53.82 

 53.38 



53.02 



Coal. 



Water 

 house. 



Pounds. 



75.00 



90.32 



99.1 



113.7 



94.53 



Steam 

 house. 



Pounds. 

 93.2 

 112.(i9 

 121.4 

 131.45 



114. 53 



This shows for nearly four months an average of 1.85° in favor of hot water, and a 

 coal consumption in the steam heater 21.5 percent greater. 



"For the month of April the two systems were compared in a differ- 

 ent manner. The same amounts of coal were supplied to each, with a 

 resulting temperature, as will be seen by the table, in the hot-water 

 house seven degrees higher than in the steam-heated house." For this 

 month the average amount of coal used daily was 00 pounds, which pro- 

 duced an average temperature (as observed at G a. m.) of 58.4° in the 

 hot- water house, and of 51. 8G° in the steam house. The average out- 



