i68 



THE GARDENERS' MONTHLY, 



[June, 



color. In December it showed four flowers, and 

 on one of the flower stems is a lateral not yet 

 open. 



A neighboring gardener has success with a plant 

 of C. naivium which was very delicate but now 

 improving, showing one flower. This plant is on 

 a block of wood. If any of the contributors to the 

 Monthly have tried this experiment I should like 

 to know with what success. How long this class 

 of plants would live and thrive under this treat- 

 ment is a question. At any rate, when a sickly 

 plant is established on blocks it is an easy matter 

 to re-pot again. 



[This is a novel idea in Cypripedium growing, 

 and will surely be of great value to orchid grow- 

 ers.— Ed. G. M.] 



one run of two-inch pipe out under the back side 

 of the bench and back under the front side to the 

 boiler. The house 13x60 feet; say 120 feet of pipe. 

 There has been no trouble in keeping this house at 

 50^^ any cold night we have had for the last three 

 years. Never had to sit up with this fire; could 

 always leave it at 9 P. M. and find steam on at 7 

 o'clock in the morning. With the hot water boiler 

 we have to watch with it all cold nights for the last 

 seven years. I have raised the temperature in this 

 house ten degrees in as many minutes. With ten 

 pounds of steam you can fill the house with it, and 

 it is very effectual in suppressing the red spider. 



HEATING PLANT-HOUSES. 



BY W. H. PAGE, NORWICH, CONN. 



I have some experience in heating greenhouses 

 by flues, hot water and steam, and I suppose all 

 have some advantages over the other, but were I 

 to heat more houses I think I should prefer steam 

 to all others. 



If I should attempt to answer Mr. Holley's ques- 

 tions in a late Monthly I would say, in the first 

 place secure a good boiler with sufficient capacity 

 to do the work without crowding. If you are to 

 run one low pressure, then two-inch pipe is best; if 

 high pressure, then i '4 inch pipe will do as well. 

 It is difficult to say whether a five-horse-power 

 boiler is sufficient to heat a certain house, for much 

 depends upon location and exposure ; but four 

 houses connected will heat easier than one alone 

 in proportion. One boiler will heat four houses if 

 of sufficient capacity for the business. You can 

 heat one-third more space with steam than by any 

 other process, with same consumption of fuel. I 

 would grade all pipes away from the boiler, that 

 is, let the pipes from the boiler fall about one inch 

 in eighteen inches, with the returns back about the 

 same, so the condensation will follow along with 

 the steam. Then there can be no clashing or 

 noise. 



Much depends upon the kind of boilers and 

 connections about how long it will run without at- 

 tention. Many boilers will not keep steam over 

 four hours without replenishing the fire. All such 

 are not suitable for the purpose. The boiler should 

 not be too high, but should have large fire capacity. 

 In my greenhouse heated by steam, it is in rather 

 a sheltered situation, is a lean-to, and faces south. 

 The boiler is of cast-iron, fifteen-inch grate, with 



HEATING BY STEAM. 



15Y H. WALZL, DENVER, COL. 



Seeing the call in the February number for 

 "Practical knowledge of hothouse heating," I 

 herewith submit to you my knowledge of the same. 



Before I ever thought of horticulture I went to 

 work in a machine shop to get a " practical " knowl- 

 edge of machinery, and while there learned the 

 use of steam and hot water for heating. Since I 

 have been in this business I have fired personally 

 with the common flues, with the Dick and Meyers 

 hot water boilers, and with Flinn & Emrich steam- 

 heating boiler of Baltimore, and have seen ordi- 

 nary horizontal boilers used here for steam-heating. 



I think that for hothouse heating the hot water 

 system is the best, ,for when once the water is 

 hot it retains the heat a long time and gives a more 

 even heat than anything else. Second, it cannot 

 get out of order after once properly put up. Third, 

 it does not require a mechanic to run it (which 

 steam does) and there is no danger of explosion, 

 which there is in steam if the person running it 

 does not understand it thoroughly. Fourth, by 

 the time everything is taken into consideration it 

 is the cheapest. 



On a very large place where it will pay to keep 

 a man to fire and attend to the heating, who un- 

 derstands all about boilers, pipes, etc., steam can 

 be made to do the work at much less cost than 

 anything else. But if it is not properly put up it 

 will be an everlasting expense and give no satis- 

 faction. 



Where one can attend to it himself and under- 

 stands it it is very good, but where you have to 

 depend on hired help, who very seldom take any 

 interest in things, and still less often know much 

 about steam, there is no satisfaction to be had 

 from steam heat. 



As to the Questions asked. First: A one-inch 



