104 



THE GARDENERS MONTHLY 



[April, 



scores of letters inquiring about his carnation 

 eeedlings. And as Mr. Hinze is not accustomed 

 to English writing, he is not able to answer these 

 inquiries, but would be glad for me to state in 

 your magazine all about the above. The seed 

 was imported from Europe some years ago, and 

 as soon as the merits of these plants were known 

 the florists around Detroit City would not grow 

 other varieties, except for the sake of other 

 colors. Mr. Hinze tries new plants every year, 

 but these are his best. Any other florist would 

 have advertised these plants and sold them for 

 high prices. Mr. Hinze did nothing of the kind ; 

 he raised a large stock and had the best of 

 the flower market for two years or more. Since 

 then all about Detroit have them, but very few 

 florists outside of Detroit knew of their existence 

 till the appearance of little article in January 

 Monthly. They bear double as many flowers, 

 and are very healthy plants in all seasons, and 

 are stout and strong growers. I had 3,000 put 

 in this winter for cut flowers, and I can speak 

 from experience. I am propagating 6,000 for 

 next year, all for cut flowers. I found one 

 house of these pay better than anything in the 

 flower line. The single flower is very large> 

 larger than of other varieties, and they are 

 pleasantly scented. The Red is a very bright 

 pure red, and the White a very large pure 

 white. 



HOT WATER BOILERS. 



BY WILLIAM SUTHERLAND, PHILADELPHIA. 



During many of my summer rambles among 

 the horticultural establishments of this vicinity 

 I have noticed a tendency to discard the old 

 smoke-flue, and to use hot- water heating appara- 

 tus in houses of any pretension. Many 

 florists are puzzled to know what boiler to use 

 for the heating of water. There are now so 

 many kinds, sizes, shapes, and patterns, and 

 each inventor claiming that his particular boiler 

 is superior to all others, &c., that to choose be- 

 tween them is indeed a difficult task. What is 

 wanted is a boiler that attains a rapid circula- 

 tion, and, consequently, the quickest with which 

 to heat water ; at the same time burning but a 

 small quantity of fuel. Hearing that several 

 commercial florists in the neighborhood of this 

 city were adopting locomotive boilers, I paid a 

 visit to the extensive establisnment of H. A. 

 Dreer, at Eiverton, N. J., who has had two in use 

 the past winter, and gleaned the following facts 



through the courtesy of the foreman, Mr. J. D. 

 Eisele. 



The boilers in use in this establishment are 

 what are known as fifteen horse-power boilers 

 with two and a-halfinch tubes, though a boiler 

 with three-inch tubes would be better, if at all 

 procurable. These boilers cost about one hun- 

 dred dollars, and the necessary fixing, so as to 

 make them adapted for greenhouse heatinc. 

 costs some twenty dollars. So it may be counted 

 that a good locomotive boiler can be procured 

 and adapted to horticultural purposes for one 

 hundred and twenty-five dollars. 



This boiler, if properly set, will heat twenty- 

 five hundred feet of pipe, besides a smoke-flue 

 of seventy-five to one hundred feet in length. 

 Last winter, which was a very severe one. fully 

 tested the eflSciency of these boilers. On the 

 coldest nights, the fires were fixed up at 10 o'clock 

 p. M., and were not touched until six the 

 next morning. Each furnace consumed twenty- 

 five tons of coal, making fifty tons for both 

 boilers, and each boiler heated five greenhouses,, 

 one hundred feet long by sixteen feet wide, mak- 

 ing sixteen hundred square feet of surface room. 



It is well known that a locomotive boiler is 

 the quickest with which to make steam, and 

 therefore must be the quickest with which to 

 heat water. With proper care it will outlast any 

 other boiler, for, being made out of wrought 

 iron, it possesses this advantage, that any of its 

 parts can be replaced without much trouble. 



ODONTOCLOSSUM CERVANTESII AND 

 TRICHOPILIA SUAVIS. 



Anticipating " C. H. S.'s " reply to the inquiry 

 of " F," regarding the treatment of the above, 

 permit me to say that there have been two dis- 

 tinct plants oifered by the importers as Odont- 

 oglossum Cervantesii the past season. The first 

 with light, pea green, soft, roundish, wrinkled 

 pseudo bulbs was not true, but was Odontoglossum 

 nebulosum, and identical with the 0. nebulosuni 

 imported by the same party two years ago. The 

 true 0. Cervantesii imported by the same firm 

 subsequently, has small, rather dark green, flask- 

 shaped pseudo bulbs, often spotted with brown 

 near top, and resembling in growth and in- 

 florescence, Odont. Rossii. This is scarce and 

 rare, but much easier to grow and flower than 

 O. nebulosum, not being as impatient of any 

 excess of moisture or of sun heat. I have it with 



