848 



The Weekly Florists^ Review^ 



Fbbruabt 15, 1906. 



keep returns warm? What pressure of 

 steam will it take to run a steam trap? 



• B. B. 



From what you say, I judge the boiler 

 in question is of about thirty horse-power 

 and should be capable of supplying about 

 3,000 to 3,500 square feet of radiation. 

 Each house requires about 1,200 square 

 feet. With good management the boiler 

 should be able to supply heat for three of 

 the houses of the dimensions noted. To 

 provide radiation for these houses with 

 1-inch pipe it will be necessary to use 

 a 3-inch supply pipe, or riser, and twenty 

 returns. A steam trap may be of some 

 use if the boiler cannot be placed well 

 below the level of the returns. If the 

 water line in the boiler is three feet be- 

 low the level of the returns, there should 

 be no need for a steam trap. A steam 

 trap can be worked with six to eight 

 pounds of steam but ten pounds is better. 



L. C. C. 



PIPING FOR HOT WATER. 



I am in charge of a small place of 

 one of your subscribers and would like to 

 know the amount of 2-inch pipe neces- 

 sary, with water at 160 degrees, also 180 

 degrees, when it is 15 degrees below 

 zero. We have one house 18x175 feet, 

 nine feet to ridge, four and one half 

 feet to plate; brick wall on west side; 

 east side, double boarded, tar paper be- 

 tween. A shorter house joining on the 

 south end, ten and a half feet to ridge, 

 five and a half feet to plate; west wall 

 brick, eighteen inches glass on the east 

 side, glass in south end and nineteen 

 feet Wide. We require 55 degrees. 



J. A. C. 



I can only give you specifications for 

 the house seventy-five feet long as you 

 neglected to state length of the "shorter 

 house." This house, with water at 180 

 degrees, should be heated with 550 feet 

 of radiation, equal to 880 lineal feet of 

 2-inch pipe. With the water at 160 de- 

 grees it will be necessary to install 850 

 feet of radiation, equal to 1,360 lineal 

 feet of 2-inch pipe. Hot water, i. e., 

 180-degree water, saves nearly one-half 

 in amount of pipe necessary to supply 

 the heat. L. C. C. 



THE READERS' CORNER. 



PIPE NEEDED. 



T intend building a house 28x100 feet, 

 inside measurement. The walls will be 

 five feet six inches, twenty-four inches 

 of glass on south side; north side to 

 be boarded. Temperature required is 50 

 degrees. I will have solid benches in the 

 house and will grow carnations. Will 

 heat with steam because I intend to add 

 more houses. Would you please tell me 

 liow many 1^4 -inch pipes it will take to 

 keep the temperature at 50 degrees? 

 Would you have two 2-inch flow pipes 

 run up the house overhead and return in 

 1^-inch pipes? 



Will you kindly tell me which glass 

 most florists use, double A or B, 16x24 

 inches? The glass will be used for car- 

 nations and roses. O. H. C. 



The house in question, 28x100 feet, to 

 be heated to 50 degrees by the plan sug- 

 gested should have a 2l^-inch flow and 

 sixteen 1^4 -inch returns, making in all 

 100 feet of 2y2-inch pipe and 1,600 feet 

 of 1^4 -inch pipe in the house. In re- 

 gard to glass will say that both A and B 

 qualities are extensively employed but, 

 unless price is a big item and there is a 

 decided saving, should advise the use of 

 A quality D. S. glass. L. C. C. 



Galvanized Pipes. 



Some time ago I saw an inquiry in 

 one of our trade papers as to whether 

 the pipes used for water conductors to 

 buildings would do for greenhouse heat- 

 ing pipes. Somebody in reply stated 

 that they would not do, but I do not 

 remember the reason he gave. I have 

 the opportunity of procuring a lot of 

 galvanized conductor pipe very cheaply 

 and have been trying to find out why 

 they would not answer for hot water 

 heating. I would use them under the 

 benches, both flows and returns. The 

 top of the boiler to be used would be but 

 eighteen inches or two feet below the 

 lowest end of the coils and the runs 

 but thirty-two feet long, and the tank 

 elevated but a few inches above the 

 highest part of the system. There would 

 be little pressure on the pipes and I 

 would like to know why such pipes would 

 not answer. All the joints could be 

 soldered and where they connected to the 

 pipes leading to and from the boiler, 

 unions could be soldered in, as they are 

 to similar pipes when used with a chain 

 pump for cisterns. Would like to hear 

 from those who know. J. Y. L. 



A Voice From Texas* 



I have been laid up a few days with 

 rheumatism and have been looking over 

 the back numbers of the Keview. It is 

 the greatest possible help and source of 

 encouragement to us small growers way 

 out here in Texas, on the edge of civiliza- 

 tion. Some of us have never seen a first- 

 class greenhouse except our own, and 

 are self taught as well as self made. I 

 saw some of the best roses and carna- 

 tions that my city brothers could grow 

 this winter, and to my surprise I could 

 beat them in size and quality. I have 

 built a new carnation house. I live in a 

 ' ' 30 cent town, ' ' but I grow dollar car- 

 nations. The only help I have had has 

 been good trade papers, of which the 

 best is the Florists' Review. 



H. L. Neal. 



Tuberous Begonias. 



Tlie Review is very attractively got 

 up, the many articles are well written, 

 interesting and instructive, and we have 

 pleasure in enclosing $2.50 for renewal 

 of our subscription. We note with re- 

 gret that begonias, which are our great 

 specialty, do not seem to be grown in 

 America at all extensively, excepting the 

 winter flowering varieties. Is this be- 

 cause the tuberous varieties are not suc- 

 cessful owing to the great heat in sum- 

 mer? We should imagine that even if 

 this is so in some districts, thit there 

 arc plenty of others where a cooler and 

 moister atmosphere would be conducive 

 to the success of these most beautiful 

 flowers, which are each year bein;y grown 

 in larger numbers in Great Britain. 



Blackmore & Laxgdox. 



Bath. 



Dollar Gunations Again. 



In reply to F. A. F. 's query how to 

 sell $1 carnations in a thirty-cent town, 

 the solution is quite simple. We started 

 here a few years ago in a small way and 

 as the business was entirely new to the 

 town it was supposed by many that flow- 

 ers were to be giv.en away, but to sell — 

 never. Any price was too much. With 

 the end in view of eking out a living we 



sold carnations at from 35 cents to 50 

 cents per dozen; but as we often had lo 

 buy (in case of funerals) we couldn't -ct 

 anything to sell at these prices and h;i . c 

 any profit left. Starting in last t ii 

 with Hill, Lawson, white and pink; ] i- 

 chantress and Crane, we determined : > 

 get what they were worth. Enchantrc s 

 we have asked for and got $1 a doze ,, 

 the Lawsons, etc., 75 cents. We ii i» 

 plenty of fancy ferns or Sprengeri wi i 

 all orders, and in case of funeral ordei , 

 all flowers sent out are artistical . 

 bunched and boxed. We find no mo; ; 

 kicking than we did at the lower pri( . 

 We are in a town of 2,000 populatio, . 

 We would advise F. A. F. to put up g0( i 

 flowers and ask what they are wort 

 but don 't ask 50 cents for 30-cent flower . 

 People as a rule recognize merit and ai 

 willing to pay an advance price for ; 

 good article. C. H. H. 



Twenty Years But Still Learning. 



Enclosed find $1 for the Review an 

 other year; could hardly keep (green) 

 house without it. Have found it pleas- 

 ant and profitable. My specialty is bed- 

 ding stock, filling vases, window boxes, 

 gardens, etc. Each year I run short 

 of some plant and have to buy. I have 

 answered several advertisements in the 

 Review to my advantage. I think 

 florists might almost make a living buy- 

 ing and selling from each other. I find 

 my business steadily growing. Once a 

 customer, always a customer has been 

 the general experience with those with 

 whom I have traded. 



The most valuable thing that 1 

 learned in the Review was how to grow 

 vincas. I have grown and used them 

 for twenty years and never knew the 

 best way to propagate them until 1 

 learned from the Review. The weather 

 has been very fine for florists in New 

 York State this winter; plenty of sun- 

 shine. A. Wakefield. 



[The Editor would be pleased to have 

 other readers give their views on any 

 subject treated.] 



PHILADELPHIA. 



The Market 



Despite the short month and three 

 holidays, besides four Sundays to sub- 

 tract, leaving only twenty-one working 

 days, February bids fair to be one of the 

 most active months of the season. The 

 amount of business in cut flowei;s is lim- 

 ited by the supply, not by the demand. 

 St. Valentine's created activity in vio- 

 lets, sweet peas, and kindred flowers sup- 

 posed to be specially favored by Cupid. 

 There was no advance in prices, simply 

 a better average, violets especially liave 

 ing been in over supply during the 

 greater part of January. Next to St. 

 Valentine 's day, the wedding of Miss 

 Alice Roosevelt was perhaps the most 

 important feature. Philadelphia con- 

 tributed of her choicest stock to this 

 event — Beauties and orchids, the former 

 largely, the latter to a smaller extent, 

 being the flowers sent to Washington. 

 The Flower Market is an important fac- 

 tor in the distribution of white snap- 

 dragon, Thos. Meehan & Sons, John Holt 

 and John Savage all contributing fancy 

 grades of this flower to the Filbert 

 street center. Curiously enough, the fea- 

 ture of the carnation market was the 

 over supply of Enchantress last week, 

 fairly good blooms of this variety sell- 

 ing considerably under the listed quota- 



