Sbi'ikmkkr 3, 1903. 



The Weekly Florists' Review* 



593 



The Horticultural Building at the St. Louis World's Fair. 



erally guaranteed. Many such an outfit 

 that cost perhaps $2 to manufacture was 

 Installed at a price ranging from $10 to 

 S50. It is needless to add that most of 

 these were afterward discarded and many 

 of them are now to be found in the Junli 

 uliops. 



In burning oil it is necessary to either 

 transform it into a gas and mix with the 

 required amount of air before it is burned. 

 or to spray or atomize it as it is fed into 

 the furnace. The object of a burner, in 

 the use of oil as fuel, is to get the oil Into 

 a finely divided state, and to get the par- 

 ticles in direct contact with the oxygen 

 of the air. The atomizing may be accom- 

 plished either by means of steam or com- 

 pressed air, the steam being the simpler 

 where the burner is used in connection 

 with a steam boiler. In a large heating 

 plant, where low pressure steam is the 

 method used, it would be necessary to in- 

 stall a small auxiliary boiler to furnish 

 high pressure steam with which to feed the 

 oil burners tised under the low pressure 

 boilers. Where electric power is available. 

 a motor-driven air compressor could be 

 used to furnish the supply of air for 

 atomizing the oil. The higher the tempera- 

 ture of the steam or air used for atom- 

 izing the oil. the greater will be the effi- 

 ciency of the burner. 



The Oil Citv Boiler Works burner, used 

 by the Naval Fuel Board during the fli 

 il by mea 

 burner, used 

 In test No. 9, employs steam as the atom- 

 izing agent. The Oil City Boiler Works 

 burner, used in tests Nos. 10. 11 and 12, 

 requires steam to spray the oil. The F. M. 

 Reed burner, used in tests Nos. 13 and 14. 

 volatilizes the oil by means of steam, after 

 which a supply of air is added before leav- 

 ing the burner. The cost of these burners 

 and the expense of their installation can 

 be had by addressing the manufacturers. 



To Build a Burner. 



A very simple and efficient burner can 

 be constructed in the following manner. 

 Procure an ordinary flange union, bolt to- 

 gether with thin iron washers between the 

 parts in order to hold them separated 

 about 1-32 of an inch : close one end by 

 means of a cast iron plug and bush down 

 the other end to not less than one inch or 

 more than two inches : this forms the burn- 

 er and it should be placed in the center, 

 or perhaps a little toward the front of 

 the firebox, and upon the grate bars. The 

 bushing should form the lower end of the 

 burner and should be screwed to the top 

 of an elbow attached to a pipe that makes 

 one or two turns around the firebox. A 

 steam connection from the top of the boiler 

 is made to this pipe and the oil is fed into 

 this sham pipe through a tee to which is 

 attached the oil supply, the connection be- 

 ing made just outside the furnace. The oil 

 supply should be controlled by a needle 

 valve and the flow accomplished by using a 

 closed tank for the reservoir and compress- 

 ing the air in the top of the tank, the oil 

 being drawn from the bottom. To start 

 this apparatus, steam is first gotten up on 

 the boiler by means of a coal or wood fire. 

 First the steam and then the oil are started 

 through the burner and the coal fire al- 

 lowed to burn itself out. 



In experiments recently made with an 

 eight horsepower upright tubular boiler, 

 burning crude oil. an even flame of yellow 

 ish color with a blue tint was secured 

 wiich worked the boiler to about two 

 thirds of its maximum capacity ; the burn- 



er used was made from a - in. h flange 

 union. In' this test no smoke was given 

 off. For a larger burner a 3-inch or 4-inch, 

 or even larger, union may be used, or two 

 or three smaller unions connected to^.thoi 



The greatest difficulty with burning oil 

 occurs when the installation is under the 

 smaller class of hot water heaters, such 

 as are used in the moderately small green- 

 house plants. In that case it is necessary 

 to generate the gas by passing the oil 

 through a heated coil or retort, and then 

 burning it by the Bunsen method. There 

 are a number of makes of burners designed 

 for the direct generation and combustion 

 of oil, but none of them give a perfect 

 flame, due as a rule to insufficient air be- 

 ing mixed with the gas. 



The firm of Lord & Burnham are agents 

 for an apparatus for burning oil which Is 

 rather simple in construction. A closed 

 tank is used for containing the supply of 

 oil, the pipe leading to the retort and burn- 

 er being taken from the top of the tank. 

 To the bottom of the tank is attached a 

 valve connected with the water supply, and 

 as the oil is drawn from the tank it is re- 

 placed by the water and a uniform pressure 

 maintained. The oil and water will not 

 miugle and the amount of oil in the tank 

 is determined by means of a gauge-glass 

 which extends from top to bottom of the 

 tank. This system might be employed in 

 connection with the use of any burner. 



A fair degree of success has been at- 

 tained with a Bunsen system of burning 

 refined kerosene, in which the gas was gen- 

 erated in a coil placed in the flre-box, the 

 gas being conducted from the coil, down- 

 ward to a point below the level of the grate, 

 where it was liberated through an orifice 

 Into a mixer, and burned with a clear blue 

 flame over a wire gauze stretched over the 

 top of the mixer. This burner is very 

 efficient, but is liable to produce a vibra- 

 tion that is sometimes equal to the noise 

 of a steam whistle. The wire gauze will 

 last but a short time, and should it be- 

 come perforated the burner will flash back 

 to the nozzle of the mixer and burn with 

 a white flame. The supply tank should be 

 elevated eight or ten feet above the burner 

 In order to give pressure, and inlet con- 

 trolled by a needle valve. This system 

 would work well if supplied with air from 

 a pressure blower, as the chief difficulty 

 arises from the inability to mix sufficient 

 air with the gas. 



Conclusions. 



That coal is the cheapest and best fuel 

 that the market affords, one pound under 

 ordinary conditions evaporating about 

 seven and one-half pounds of water at 



That the provision for a liber 

 supply of coal is. under most circi 

 the safest method of providing for an emer- 

 gency. This supply need not be stored 

 near the boilers, and should only be used 

 when coal cannot be secured from the regu- 

 lar sources. The interest on the money in- 

 vested in such reserve supply of coal will 

 be wisely expended. 



That a pound of dry wood will evaporate 

 about four pounds of water at 212° F. 

 That wood is in many cases the most effi- 

 cient substitute for coal during a short 

 period. 



That where crude oil can be secured at 

 a reasonable price it is the best and most 

 reliable substitute for coal, and where it 

 can be purchased as low as $1 per barrel 

 it is preferable to coal at $3.30 and tin- 

 wards per ton. That one pound of crude 



oil will evaporate 13.3 pounds of water at 

 212° F„ and that one pound of oil has a 

 heating efficiency equal to that of about 

 1.6 pounds of coal. Also that the use of 

 oil is clean and economical so far as the 

 flre-room work is concerned, and if prop- 

 erly burned, no smoke is produced. 



That the mechanical part of oil burning 

 has passed the first experimental stage and 

 has proved successful. That there are a 

 number of good burners upon the market, 

 especially of the sprayer class, using com- 

 pressed air or steam for volatilizing the oil. 



That a cheap and efficient burner can be 

 made from comparatively inexpensive ma- 

 terials. 



That oil can be burned in an even and 

 effective manner, especially under steam 

 boilers of the watertube class. 



That petroleum will probably never re- 

 place coal for general use. 



ST. LOUIS WORLD'S FAIR. 



Those who visited the Buffalo exposi- 

 tion, or the one at Omaha, will remem- 

 ber the representative character of the 

 florists and nurserymen who exhibited 

 there. Chief F. W. Taylor, of the 

 St. Louis World's Fair,- who occu- 

 pied a similar position in both the 

 expositions mentioned, reports that 

 nearly exery exhibitor he has had 

 heretofore, together with a good 

 many others, will be in attendance at St. 

 Louis in 1904. The exhibits already 

 planted cover as many acres as were 

 used in' Buffalo for the entire outdoor 

 exhibit. When the next fall's and next 

 spring's plantings are added to what has 

 already been done, there will be at least 

 fifty acres of outdoor planting of exhib- 

 its, entirely aside from the landscape 

 work of the exposition itself. The ma- 

 terial already planted includes ever- 

 greens, hardy shrubs, roses, peonies and 

 other hardy perennials. 



A recent letter from the Mexican com- 

 mission says that they will bring with 

 them five carloads of plants for a part 

 of the horticultural exhibit. 



THE FLORIST NOT TO BLAME. 



On the editorial page in the Septem- 

 ber issue of the Ladies' Home Journal 

 appears the editor 's views on the custom 

 of display at funerals. Of course, the 

 use of flowers comes in for its share of 

 criticism ami in till probability, consider- 

 ing the lii",h standing of the publication, 



"those fearful conceptions of the ignor-' 

 ant florist. ' ' but why make it appear that 

 the florists as a class are ignorant, When 

 as a rule they are wholly in the hands 

 of the relatives or friends of the de- 

 ceased on these occasions? 



The law of supply and demand is pres- 

 ent in our trade, as in others, but let no 

 one think the florist so devoid of knowl- 



