1883.] 



AND HORTICULTURIST. 



167 



Sixth — Our boiler requires attention every two 

 or three .hours. It would sometimes last longer, 

 but it is so unreliable that it is safest to watch it 

 regularly. I find it to be the same with nearly all 

 local florists who have steam-heating in use. 



Seventh — The style of boiler we have in use is 

 a horizontal tubular; it is claimed that these have 

 the most heating surface, and are, therefore, rec- 

 ommended to be the best. 



The above are as accurate answers as I can 

 give from the result of our experiment, aiid trust 

 it will enlighten Mr. H. and others interested. 



It may be agreeable to some of the readers of 

 the Monthly to learn how we have our steam- 

 pipes arranged, and how our combined steam and 

 hot water heating is managed. 



Our greenhouses, now twenty in number, cover- 

 ing an area of more than 50,000 square feet of glass, 

 are heated by six No. 17 and two No. 16 of Hitch- 

 ings & Co.'s corrugated fire-box boilers, and two of 

 Meyers' improved hot water boilers. To these we 

 have attached about 12,000 feet of four-inch pipes. 

 As we needed all these houses to grow cut-flowers 

 and could not heat them to a desired temperature 

 for that purpose, and were about to make addi- 

 tions last summer, we decided to put in a steam 

 boiler in order to tests its merits. The boiler is of 

 above-described style, 3'^ feet in diameter by 14 

 feet long, with 54 flues. To this we have attached 

 about 6,000 feet of pipes of various sizes. The 

 four-inch supply pipe leads tljrough a house 20x128 

 feet; from this branches lead into four different 

 houses with a coil of three one-inch pipes in each 

 house, ascending from the supply pipe. These 

 houses are 20 feet wide and the steam-pipes main- 

 tain a temperature of about 55^. When the ther- 

 mometer goes down to 26 below freezing point 

 in colder weather we add hot water pipes, of which 

 we have eight in each house. In this way we use 

 the steam in fourteen different houses. 



Then we have another three-inch supply pipe 

 leading to four houses 10x120 feet each, heated by 

 steam exclusively. In each of these houses we 

 have ai:oil of three one-inch radiating pipes de- 

 scending from the supply pipe. The condensed 

 steam is led to the boiler with a one-inch pipe de- 

 scending to boiler. With all the pipes in use we 

 can maintain a temperature of 48'^ when the ther- 

 mometer goes down to 20'' below zero. 



As steam-heating is now attracting considerable 

 attention and is the topic of conversation among 

 florists, 1 will proceed to discuss a few important 

 questions on the subject. 



First — Is steam-heating really better and cheaper 



than hot water? As far as our experience teaches 

 we must say no. I will first take into considera- 

 tion the cost of construction. It is very true that 

 steam can be put in cheaper than hot water, but 

 the question is : Will it last as long ? Time will 

 tell I Now comes fuel and labor. It was claimed 

 by one or two local writers that steam costs less in 

 fuel and is better than hot water. I would ask how 

 can these gentlemen make such an assertion when 

 neither of them ever had any hot water heating 

 and do not know what it is. Good steam-heating 

 may be as good as hot water, but I feel safe in 

 saying that it is not a particle better. 



And even if it is as good as it is claimed to be, 

 and better than hot water in all points, one more 

 important question is: Will steam heat be as 

 agreeable to plant life as hot water heat ? I will 

 mention one case. In the four houses heated by 

 steam exclusively we have carnations. They were 

 looking splendidly until the end of December last. 

 At that time heavy firing commenced and we soon 

 noticed that they were not doing as they should. 

 Although kept quite cool they showed a feeble 

 growth. We put in a lot of cuttings from them 

 and soon found that it was very difficult to root 

 them. 



On further examination we found that the wood 

 was "tough;" also that the flowers, after being 

 open two days, would fade away, while those in 

 the other houses heated by hot water would last 

 eight or ten days. Does it not look as if steam 

 had something to do with it ? 



CYPRIPEDIUMS. 

 BY .ALEXANDER CRAMB, NEWBURG, N. Y. 



During twenty years experience in gardening I 

 do not remember having seen or heard of any one 

 growing Cypripediums on blocks, and until last 

 year did not think of such idea. 



Having a very sickly plant of C. venustum, 

 which gradually grew less in spite of all I could 

 do, and not wishing to lose the plant, it occurred 

 to me to put it on a block of wood or something 

 similar. 



I found among some peat a fern stool which I 

 used instead of the wood. After washing the few 

 poor roots the plant had I wired the plant to the 

 stool, using nothing but moss to cover the roots. 

 This was done about the loth of June. At the end 

 of July 1 had the satisfaction of seeing one large 

 fleshy root, and continued to make roots until late 

 in the fall. The leaves made during the time are 

 much larger than the old ones and of a better 



