J36 



THE FLORISTS MANUAL. 



or 20x75. and wanted it so arranged that 

 he could leave it at 11 p. m. till 6 a. m., 

 I should without hesitation tell him to 

 get plenty of boiler power and use the 

 4-inch pipe for radiation. Use the heavy 

 cast iron pipe used by horticultural build 

 ers, 9-foot lengths and four inches out 

 side diameter, not what many greenhouse 

 men have used, Mott s soil pipe, 5-foot 

 lengths, four inches inside diameter; this 

 is a thin, brittle metal, unsatisfactory in 

 many ways. 



I have had no experience with water 

 under pressure, unless the pressure of 

 our city mains constitutes that system. 

 Our city water has a pressure of about 

 thirty-five pounds to the square inch, and 

 in my experience it is a very cheap 

 heating system for a store or office. Wish 

 ing to heat a flower store in this city, 

 which is something like 19x80 feet in 

 area, I put a small heater in the cellar. 

 It is simply three lengths of 3-inch 

 pipe, each about three feet long, and run 

 into a manifold at both ends. The coil 

 is resting on two 4-inch brick walls 

 about two feet from the floor and is 

 bricked over top, sides and ends. One 

 end of this coil is raised about three 

 inches and from it rising to the floor is 

 the li/4-iEch flow, which leads off, and 

 by the help of some tees connects with 

 three radiators on the floor of the store, 

 and from the other end of the radiators 

 the returns drop to the lower end of the 

 coil. There are two natural gas burners 

 under this very simple heater, which in 

 the coldest weather has never been turned 

 on more than one-third its force. 



A 1-ineh pipe from the city water is 

 connected with the lowest part of the 

 coil and the valve is never closed, so 

 there is always a pressure of thirty-five 

 pounds on the pipe and radiators. The 

 highest part of the system is the top of 

 the radiators, and in them is a petcock 

 which should be opened every day to let 

 out air, but often is not for weeks, and 

 in a radiator it is not of so much conse 

 quence. 



There is nothing more about it, only 

 the radiators can be made very hot; a 

 great success. If a strong fire should ex 

 pand the water in the heater it has to 

 find room by driving the water back into 

 the mains. The whole thing cost less 

 than $50, and $5 worth of gas was con 

 sumed in the coldest month. Now this 

 system could be used with great success 

 wherever you have a boiler that would 

 stand the pressure. You could use it on 

 either the uphill or downhill systems, but 

 you could not have any open air vents, 

 and unless you trusted to the automatic 

 air valves you would have to daily open 

 the petcocks at the highest point. 



The architecture of many greenhouse 

 establishments, the smaller and older 

 places more especially, is so complicated 

 and houses are on so many different 

 levels, that sound advice as to how to ar 

 range pipes is impossible unless you are 

 on the spot. Three rules can be accepted 

 as sound. Provide plenty of capacity in 

 both flow and return pipes. Don t use 

 less than 2-inch pipes, and reserve all the 

 drop on your return pipes till just before 

 you enter the boiler. Watch these points 

 and vou will save coal. 



HEDERA Ivy. 



Until the introduction of galax leaves, 

 the ivy was of much importance, and 

 large quantities are still used, and possi 

 bly always will be. H. Helix is the com 

 mon English and Irish ivy, and it has in 

 numerable forms and varieties. Some of 

 the variegated varieties make beautiful 

 pot plants, and if they could be produced 

 cheaply enough would make the best of 

 basket and vase plants. 



The common ivy is not a success here 

 out of doors. It will do fairly well on 

 a north wall for some years, and then 

 we get a winter that kills. In Europe 

 on dead trees, and live ones, too, and on 

 ruined towers and old buildings you see 

 the ivy climbing everywhere. Creeping 

 where no life is seen, a rare old plant 

 is the ivy green. And Gray says : 

 Save that from yonder ivy-mantled 

 tower, the moping owl does to the moon 

 complain.&quot; So the ivy must have crept 



tiful residence streets and the uncommon 

 feature always noticeable to Eudyard 

 Kipling and less illustrious Outlaud- 

 ers&quot; is the absence of fences or hedges. 

 There is nothing but the well kept lawn, 

 the group of shrubs and trees, or perhaps 

 a flower bed, between the sidewalk and 

 the residence. There is no finer specimen 

 of this beautiful style of street in Amer 

 ica than our own Delaware avenue, Buf 

 falo, N. Y. We would never be guilty 

 of advocating any other style, but 

 whether we would or not there is a fast 

 growing tendency to put up iron fences, 

 or plant hedges, and when they are asked 

 for we must be ready. 



We will say in defense of a hedge 

 that where an iron fence is used we think 

 a well kept hedge behind it is an im 

 provement. Or where there is a retain 

 ing wall a small hedge on the bank is a 

 finish to it. Or where the lot finishes on 

 the street with a terrace we think a hedge 

 is in place. And a well kept hedge can 



Hedge of Spiraea Van Houttei Three Years After Planting. 



its way to the top of the lofty tower, for 

 it mantled it. 



The ivy roots easily during spring, and 

 if planted out early in good soil will 

 make fine plants by the following Octo 

 ber, when they should be lifted and 

 potted in 4-inch pots. One advantage of 

 the ivy is that they will winter under a 

 bench in a cool house about as well as on 

 the bench. We use them largely in vases 

 and veranda-boxes and they suffer neither 

 from heat, drought nor wind. 



To produce leaves for designs I have 

 not found them a great success beneath 

 a bench. Although I planted a lot be 

 neath a carnation bench in good soil, I 

 prefer a wall where they will get the 

 daylight, and such is generally to be 

 found somewhere on the place. 



HEDGE PLANTS. 



If you supply shrubs you will be sure 

 to be asked to plant hedges. Some of 

 our American cities have distinctly beau- 



hardly be out of place anywhere near the 

 street. But it is all in the quality of 

 the hedge. We trust for the credit of 

 our city and its pride, the residence 

 streets, that stone walls or Norway spruce 

 hedges will never be built to prevent the 

 passerby from admiring the trees and 

 well kept lawns and flower gardens of 

 our wealthy citizens. A good and happy 

 life on the avenue is not fostered by ad 

 miring your own lot alone. You see in 

 a month more of your neighbor s than 

 you do of your own, and a resident keeps 

 his grounds neat and trim and beautiful 

 because others will admire them, the 

 knowledge of which gratifies the owner. 

 It resolves itself, like many other good 

 deeds, into a species of selfishness; by 

 doing good to others you have tickled 

 and pleased your own self. 



But let us get back to the hedge. There 

 are very few hedges seen in our cities 

 that are properly kept, either of the ever 

 green or deciduous kind. The best speci 

 mens of hedges I have seen in this conn- 



