February 9, 1907 



HORTICULTURE 



159 



More About the Proposed Boiler 

 Inspection Law 



• Wishing to get more complete information on the 

 subject on which I wrote last week I addressed a letter 

 to Mr. C. E. Roberts of the Hartford Steam Boiler 

 Insurance Co., asking whether, if the proposed law 

 should go into effect, it would be permissible for mar- 

 ket gardeners, farmers or florists to install "lap seam" 

 steam boilers or to retain such where same are already 

 in use; also whether we should be obliged to employ 

 night firemen or whether this could be avoided by 

 taking out an insurance policy; whether the use of a 

 boiler to generate steam for pumping water, the valves 

 to the houses being closed, or the iTse of a spare heating 

 boiler for this purpose would constitute same power 

 boilers, etc. I received the following reply: 



Mr. R. T. McGorum, Natick, Mass. 



Dear Sir: — Your valued favor of January 30th re- 

 ceived. I wish that I were able to reply directly to your 

 inquiry. There are at least four, if not more, 'amend- 

 ments to the State law regarding the inspection of boil- 

 ers. Which of those will pass, of course, we are un- 

 able to say. When the laws have been passed they will 

 have to be examined and interpreted, but, in general, will 

 say that we do not anticipate a change that would serious- 

 ly affect boilers such as you use. We should expect, how- 

 ever, even if greenhouse boilers were exempted, if they 

 were used for pumping they would come under the head 

 of power boilers; and, in that case, you would require a li- 

 censed fireman, perhaps under a special license, under a 

 regular full-licensed engineer. In these matters, however, 

 we could not anticipate what position the State offlcialf 

 would take or what their interpretation of the law would 

 be. We would say, however, that we do not look forward 

 to anything that would seriously hamper or change mat- 

 ters, so far as your boilers are concerned, but as yet 

 we are as much in the dark as to the outcome as you are. 

 We trust that the steam users will be well protected undei 

 the law, whether for heating or power purposes, by the pas- 

 sage of a conservative measure. 



Yours respectfully, 



C. E. ROBERTS, Manager. 



It seems strange that in the bill under consideration 

 it is proposed to take us out of the exempted class, but 

 admit to that class boilers under the periodically guar- 

 anteed inspection of companies which have complied, 

 with the laws of the commonwealth, and, further, 

 to substitute a minimum of "three-horse power" 

 for "eight-horse power." Does the State feel obliged 

 to make laws to keep up the business of the insurance 

 companies? If not, then why these changes? 



We are told in the above letter that if we run a pump 

 we must have a fireman with a special license, under a 

 regular full-licensed engineer ; that's rich, isn't it ! 

 Most of us have started from a small beginning and 

 some of us are in the small class yet. I look after my 

 boilers myself, except at night, as I always have done 

 and, when we get weather, run a little pump for manure 

 water, and many florists do the same. We can take a 

 pump to pieces and put it together again if occasion 

 requires, but, could we get an engineer's license of the 

 class mentioned? T think the florists that could do it 

 could be easily counted. For the privilege of using a 



pump once a week are we to employ two exti'a men, for 

 perhaps two hours' work weekly? 



Pressure for greenhouse lieating rarely exceeds 10 

 lbs., the safety valve set to blow off at perhaps 2 

 pounds higher. Is there any danger of explosion? 

 Florists are usually situated in isolated places, where 

 the risk, even under high pressure, would be very small. 

 ■'Motor road vehicles" are left on the exempted list. In 

 these steam cars a pressure from 200 to 400 pounds of 

 steam is carried and a pump running all the time. 

 These are allowed anywhere on the streets amongst 

 crowds of people. I wonder why they were left on the 

 exempted list and we taken. 



It will be noted from the above letter that there are 

 four or more inspection bills in the process of hatching. 

 We are having a hard enough time this winter trying 

 to get flowers under bad weather conditions without 

 being saddled with extra burdens to be added to our 

 already increased expenses, and decreased incomes ! 



Gillenia trifoliata^ Moench 



This plant belongs to the natural order Eosacese 

 in which several families since ages ago have been cul- 

 tivated. Genera and species within this order are still 

 in use in our parks and in our gardens, not alone for 

 their economical value but also for their embellishment. 

 It is to one of those I wish to call the readers' atten- 

 lion, our native Gillenia (India Physic or Bowman's 

 Root). If it was as well known by garden cultivators as 

 it has been given names by botanists we would see it 

 more commonly cultivated. Known as Spiraea trifoli- 

 ata, L., it was first cultivated in England in 1758 by 

 Mr. Miller. Ulmaria major trifolia, Ulmaria virgini- 

 ana trifolia, and Porteranthus trifoliatus are also names 

 with which it has been honored. It well deserves with 

 right the honor to be more widely cultivated. With its 

 pinkish-white flowers in a loose panicled corymb and 

 its fine incised foliage, it will fill its place in the border 

 with gracefulness and elegance, and as a cutflower, few 

 of the hardy perennials will excel it. The writer of 

 these lines saw in Horticultural Hall, Boston, last sum- 

 mer a vase of this plant, and it was the most pleasing 

 and attractive in that of genera well represented, staged 

 collection. Its culture is not difficult and grown to per- 

 fection "it certainly is a most delectable plant," as was 

 the opinion of an early writer. It thrives best in a 

 moist peaty soil and half-shaded situation. Propaga- 

 tion in spring by parting the roots or by seeds sown as 

 soon as ripe. 



"iJdt^ 



