138 



THE GARDENEWS MONTHLY 



[May, 



steam. But the water is heated by steam in- 

 stead of the direct action of the fire. Again : 

 "We obtain our heat much quiclier than by the 

 old method," If so, that is an advantage; be- 

 cause the same body of water contained in 4- 

 inch pipes will contain and give off the same 

 amount of heat whether absorbed from steam 

 pipes or the direct action of the fire in a hot 

 water boiler ; and the quiclfer we get up the de- 

 sired amount of heat, as a rule, the better, pro- 

 vided we do not make our heating medium over 

 180° in the effort to get up the heat. Also : "As 

 to economy, we burned last season five tons of 

 coal to 1,000 square feet of glass, which is better 

 by three tons than any have done in this vici- 

 nity." Three tons of coal saved for every 1,000 

 square feet of glass or 30 tons for the 10,000, and 

 the labor of handling the coal would be a con- 

 siderable item and well worth due consideration. 



In order to enable us to judge of the compara- 

 tive values of hot water and steam, I think Mr- 

 Parker should state the number of feet of 4-inch 

 pipe required to heat 10,000 square feet of glass, 

 and number of cubic feet of air to be heated ; or 

 more easily perhaps, the size of the houses, in 

 width, height and length and number of feet of 

 pipe to each house, if double thick glass, etc., 

 and whether the degree of heat to be maintained 

 be merely to keep plants free from frost through 

 the winter, say 35° to 50°, or whether a growing 

 heat of 60° to 80° ; all this makes a wonderful 

 difference in the consumption of fuel. Also the 

 cost of the twenty-eight horse power steam 

 boiler with heaters and steam pipes as compared 

 with the cost of a hot water boiler powerful 

 enough to heat the water contained in the same 

 number of feet of 4-inch pipe to the same tem- 

 perature, under the same circumstances, say 212°. 



But it is not desirable to be obliged to heat 

 hot water pipes to the boiling point. We should 

 have heating surface enough to obtain the re- 

 quired amount of heat without ever heating the 

 water over 160° to 180°. It is this slow soft 

 warmth which makes them so preferable to over- 

 heated mediums like brick flues, hot air or steam 

 pipes, etc. Mr. Parker quotes from Loudon's 

 Encyclopaedia: " Steam affords a simple and ef- 

 fectual method of heating hothouses." Also, 

 " The disadvantages of steam, as a vehicle for 

 conveying heat to hothouses are few." The 

 words, simple and effectual, I do not agree with, 

 notwithstanding Mr. Loudon said so. Mr. Lou- 

 don wrote forty years ago, and more, and they 

 did think something of steam for heating horti- 



cultural buildings at that time ; but they had 

 not then learned so much about hot water. 



(To be continued.) 



DAMAGE BY THE LARV/E OF THE 

 ROSE BUG. 



BY ALFRED CROFTS, (JARDENKR TO WM. MATHEWS, 

 ESQ., FLATBUSH, N. Y. 



Having been very skeptical myself in regard 

 to the amount of damage committed by the 

 Rose Bug grub or maggot, 1 will give you the 

 following experience of mine which may be of 

 interest to the readers of the Gardener's 

 Monthly, and has convinced me of the fact 

 that it is a very dangerous pest to obtain a foot- 

 ing in greenhouses, especially where there are 

 large specimens kept from year to year. I had 

 a large Summit of Perfection geranium in a 10- 

 inch pot, which for no reason apparent to me, 

 has looked sickly all winter, and yesterday I 

 broke a piece out and some of the roots with it, 

 and saw one of the grubs on them ; so I at once 

 took the plant out, broke the ball up carefully, 

 and obtained no less than two hundred and 

 twenty-eight grubs from the roots of that gera- 

 nium which were gnawed all over, and not a live 

 fibre on them except just at the top of the ball. 



AMARANTH, SUNRISE. 



BY MRS. M. D. W. YARMOUTH, MAINE, 



In Mr. Yick's Magazine, for Dec. 1878, there 

 is a colored plate of this new Amaranth. The 

 lower leaves are of a purplish red, and crowned 

 with leaves of brilliant flame color. With his 

 usual caution, Mr. Vick delayed making it 

 known for several years to the public, lest it 

 might not be sufficiently constant to satisfy pur- 

 chasers. Last year I procured a paper of seed, 

 and was delighted with the results. Though 

 few were like the one represented in the plate, 

 yet all were beautiful and greatly admired by all 

 who saw them. Some of them had leaves par- 

 tially of the brilliant color, and part of the pur- 

 ple, then the crown of sunrise. These handsome 

 foliage^f plants, with the Coleus do wonderfully 

 heighten the effect of a flower garden. 



plantsifor:greenhouses in summer. 



BY J.^FYFE.; 



In'jvisiting th e various |plant establishments 

 in ^this country one feels disappointed in seein g 

 nothing but Carnation Pinks, Bouvardias, Cal- 

 las, Abutilons, etc. -These seem to be only 

 productions of the greenhouse, and during the 



