1885.] 



AND HORTICULTURIST. 



75 



Heating and Glazing at Rcehrer Broth- 

 ers, Lancaster, Pa. — Those who love to study 

 progress in floriculture would find themselves well 

 repaid by a call on Roshrer Brothers, florists, Lan- 

 caster, Pennsylvania. They own twelve acres of 

 ground in the suburbs of this flourishing city, 

 which they secured a few years ago for §12,000. 

 It fronts on the old turnpike, which, before the 

 days of steam, was the grand highway for wagons 

 between Philadelphia and the West. They are 

 market growers, and the first block of houses were 

 built chiefly for advancing vegetables, and were 

 heated by flues. As the demand for flovvefs grew, 

 another block followed, heated by hot water; and 

 since the advent of the great taste for cut flowers, 

 another block has been erected which has been 

 heated by steam. They afford a good opportunity 

 to test the various systems. The steam-heated 

 buildings were working to entire satisfaction. 

 These cover 5,000 feet of ground surface, and are 

 heated by a boiler made by a Reading firm, atid 

 guaranteed by the makers to keep the houses 

 warm under a low e.xternal temperature, with no 

 care of the fires between 9 in the evening and 5 in 

 the morning. It hardly does this, however ; but then 

 we could hardly expect to leave even a hot-water 

 furnace, or one with the old-fashioned flues, with 

 so little attention in very severe weather. The 

 steam-heated houses have however a great advan- 

 tage in a system of glazing in use by the owners, 

 and tor which they have applied for a patent. In 

 this plan the glass is simply placed on the sash 

 bar, the panes edge to edge, and the whole held 

 in place by a thin metal slip, galvanized, which, 

 like a cap, completely covers the outer portion of 

 the sash bar, on which it is screwed down and 

 thus firmly holds the glass in place, while it wholly 

 excludes moisture and prevents the escape of the 

 warm internal air. Should a pane of glass get ac- 

 cidentally broken, the metal cap is unscrewed, the 

 whole column of glass pushed up from the bottom, 

 and another placed at the end. A screw or some 

 similar contrivance prevents the long column of 

 glass from slipping. Under the old systems of 

 putting the panes of glass edge to edge, and the 

 whole then puttied, breakage was the great objec- 

 tion. It was almost impossible to fit another in. 

 It is much easier to fit in a new pane under this 

 new plan than under any old method. But a 

 great advantage of this system is that it takes 

 away one of the great sources of broken glass — 

 the freezing of water between the laps. Under 

 the old system of lapping glass, especially if the 

 panes were wide or the glass of poor quality, the 



breakage from this cause is usually heavy in most 

 establishments, especially if there is much jar from 

 wind or other causes while the temperature is low. 

 Another great advantage is that there is much 

 less escape of heat than under lapped glass. The 

 edges are not quite so close that one might not now 

 and then draw a hair through ; but it is very rare 

 that wider spaces and a much greater loss of heat 

 do not follow from the usual lapping plan. But 

 the greatest advantage of all is the superior light 

 which this system gives. Dust and slime soon 

 collects under the ordinary greenhouse lap, and 

 where this is the case there might as well be no 

 glass. A quarter of inch lap in every six inches 

 of sash is equal to three inches of blank surface — 

 say four per cent, of actual waste. Some may 

 think this of little account, but those who have 

 had experience in growing winter flowers in a 

 new house where the light was unobstructed will 

 know how important every ray is to success. In 

 some cases the roughness of edge in a closely fit- 

 ted pane might lead to a little drip sometimes ; but 

 if this should occur a little white lead in sliding up 

 the glasses would probably be effectual. 



The question of glazing greenhouses will yet be 

 an important one. The steam heating subject has 

 overridden this so far, but is scarcely of more 

 consequence to complete success. The Horticul- 

 tural Hall at New Orleans has been glazed on the 

 Rendle Patent plan, which also provides for the 

 glass being placed edge to edge, instead of being 

 overlapped. Any suggestions in this direction 

 will be welcomed by our readers. 



In these houses rose culture is a great success. 

 The plants are renewed every three years. Let- 

 tuce and radishes are grown between the roses, 

 but are drawn out before the roses get far into 

 growth. About January carnations and some 

 other things are taken completely out and their 

 places occupied by young bedding plants which 

 are sold off in market in spring. 



Dinner-Table Decor.^tion. — What may be 

 called a golden rule in dinner-table decoration is, 

 always to have some distinct feature in each ar- 

 rangement. If a design is worked out in colored 

 leaves, let them be used in such quantities and in 

 such a way as to give color and efiect to the 

 whole. If cut flowers are used for filling glasses 

 or epergnes, let them form the prominent feature 

 of the arrangement, and sometimes let plants, 

 either large or small, supply color, grace, and 

 beauty. One of the most popular ways of dec- 

 orating a dinner table is, to use rather tall trumpet- 



