1880. 



AXD HORTICULTURIST. 



265 



It is a curiou.s fact that those who are used to 

 handling large quantities of Tea Roses soon be- 

 come so accustomed to them as to be able to 

 distinguish the stock of the different leading 

 growers. This is assuming, too, that the stock is 

 all equally fine Oftentimes the reason of this 

 cannot be explained The difference is felt and 

 not describable. Sometimes it is a slight differ- 

 ence in the color of the bud or foliage, or the 

 solidity of the bud Of the growers of Tea 

 Roses there are but few that cut over one thou- 

 sand in a day, and I very much doubt if there 

 are an\' that will average that number from 

 November 1st to May 1st. The general average 

 among those who pay attention to them will not 

 exceed three hundred each. 



STEAM HEATING. 



BY R. G PARKER ct CO., BOSTON, MASS. 



We are very glad to see that our little article 

 on the heating of greenhouses has at least suc- 

 ceeded in agitating the new, or perhaps more 

 properly, reviving the old idea of the effective- 

 ness of steam in the minds of practical men, 

 such as your correspondent, Mr. Salter: and as 

 we have invited such friendly criticism as his 

 we shall endeavor to the best of our ability, to 

 respond to his queries. 



Tlie cubical contents of our establishment 

 which we heat, are about 65,000 feet distributed 

 in several houses — none of which are glazed with 

 double thick glass. The average temperature 

 we require for the stock grown in the houses is 

 about 55°. The number of feet of four inch pipe 

 we use would be of no use as a comparison, as 

 we have considerable direct steam radiation, 

 and we must affirm that we have found the 

 steam quite as efficient, and less expensive than 

 water. The first cost of the steam boiler and 

 connections is about the same as hot water, with 

 many things in favor of the steam boiler. 



We perfectly agree with Mr. Salter, that the 

 slow soft warmth obtained from hot water is 

 preferable to overheated mediums, such as flues, 

 but we have yet to discover any baneful effects 

 produced by growing plants in steam heat ; and 

 we can but think that the reason wh}' hot water 

 superseded steam in the olden time, was not 

 from any ill effect produced by steam, simply 

 from the incompleteness of the apparatus used, 

 and its great cost, both of which difficulties have 

 now vani-shed in our forty years later experience ; 

 we therefore still do honor to Mr. Loudon's opin- 



ion that steam is both simple and effectual for 

 heating glass structures. 



Our fires are attended by the same men who 

 had the care of them under the old regime, and 

 have run them two years without any trouble. 

 Their heads shook dolefully when the steam 

 boilers were being put in, but now they affirm 

 that the apparatus has conquered their prejudices. 

 The fires require to be kept burning the same as 

 a hot water boiler. We have never had to re- 

 main by our fires all night ; they are generally 

 left from between nine and ten o'clock until 

 seven in the morning. We use an automatic 

 steam damper, which is really the completing 

 part of the apparatus, for without it we could do 

 nothing. 



It may be almost too radical to advocate the 

 heating of glass houses altogether by steam, but 

 from what we have seen and know we should 

 not be surprised at any time to learn that some 

 adventurous spirit had " gone and done it " 



Whoever does it, and proves the efficiency or 

 deficiency of steam, wall deserve a medal from 

 all the Horticultural Societies in the world. 



Steam has proved itself the most efficient for 

 heating other structures,— why not for glass 

 houses. 10 000 cubic feet of air to be heated is 

 much the same thing, be it in a church or a con- 

 servatory ; the only difference being in the 

 amount of radiating surface required. 



As to Mr. Salter's difficulties, they do not ap- 

 pear in practice ; we consider ourselves as safe 

 with 5 or 10 pounds of steam as we should be 

 with the water boiler. The whole apparatus is 

 built to stand ten times the pressure that we 

 subject it to ; therefore our factor of safety is very 

 large. We find that in twenty minutes from the 

 time we build a fire, everything being cold, we 

 can have our steam pipes hot ; which certainly is 

 preferable to waiting two or three hours for it. 

 Of course the steam pipes are much hotter than 

 water pipes, but the effect of these very small, 

 very hot pipes is about the same as the moder- 

 ately warm very large water pipes. The steam 

 heating surface can be distributed over the 

 houses with greater facility than water pipes, 

 and there need be but one third as much of it. 

 In our opinion, Mr. Salter's experiment would 

 prove nothing beyond the fact that, if he were 

 searching for a comparison between hot water 

 and steam, and wished to reach a satisfactory 

 result, he was on the wrong track. 



The difference between steam at 212° and wa- 

 ter at the same temperature, and under the same 



