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8 



The Wcckdy Florists' Review* 



April 13, 1911. 



greenhouse glass at a low rate, and is in 

 a flourishing condition and pays all losses 

 promptly. 



This association was formed in 1885, 

 in conjunction with the S. A. F. In fact, 

 one of the principal objects in organizing 

 the S. A. F. was the formation of this 

 Hail Association, as the need of such in- 

 surance was badly felt. The oflBcers and 

 directors of the association are all well 

 known in the trade and the association 

 now has over 32,500,000 square feet of 

 glass insured. It is a purely mutual or- 

 ganization, in which the members place 

 in the hands of the treasurer one ad- 

 vanced assessment in order that losses 

 may be paid promptly. The reserve fund, 

 which is used only in great emergency, 

 now amounts to $21,700. The present 

 membership numbers over 1,600, located 

 in nearly every state, and several in Can- 

 ada. The fact that over 1,430 losses, 

 amounting to more than $165,000, have 

 been paid during the last twenty-five 

 years is in itself suflBcient argument in 

 favor of the wisdom of hail insurance. 



In view of the heavy losses in broken 

 glass, caused by hail in recent years, it 

 appears evident that every greenhouse 

 owner in the country would do well to 

 join the association. John G. Esler, Sad- 

 dle River, N. J., is the secretary, and full 

 particulars may be obtained from him. 



Storm Insurance. 



In endeavoring to obtain storm insur- 

 ance (the insurance companies call it 



is typical of the conditions to be met in 

 many similar sections of the country. In 

 the first place it must be remembered 

 that this plant Avas only recently con- 

 structed and is modern and up-to-date in 

 every particular. 



This firm found several insurance com- 

 panies that would write tornado policies 

 on their risk, covering the entire estab- 

 lishment, including the glass, at rates 

 that varied from $2 to $5 per $100 of 

 insurance, but they considered this 

 charge excessive and the manner in 

 which their insurance agent finally ob- 

 tained the policies at only about half of 

 the lowest rate mentioned before, was 

 quite unique. Of course, it is understood 

 that this rate is applicable only under 

 similar conditions and is mentioned be- 

 cause the principle involved might be 

 tried in any locality. The method of in- 

 surance follows: 



A responsible casualty company was 

 found that would write a policy against 

 the breakage of the glass from any 

 cause; hail, storms, tornadoes, in fact, 

 any breakage of glass whatsoever, but 

 not covering any other damage that 

 might result from the same cause. Then 

 a tornado insurance company was in- 

 duced to write a policy covering all the 

 buildings, etc., but excluding the actual 

 glass. In other words, this policy cov- 

 ered the framework of the houses, the 

 benches, boiler-house, smokestack, and 

 various other buildings, but under any 



Work of Hail That Lasted Less Than Three Minutes. 



tornado insurance), the average green- 

 house owner is apt to experience consid- 

 erable diflSculty in getting it at a rate 

 that he would think at all reasonable. 



As is probably well known, this insur- 

 ance covers loss or damage of any kind 

 resulting from wind storms, tornadoes, 

 cyclones, etc., and naturally the rates 

 vary greatly according to the weather 

 conditions that prevail in various sec- 

 tions of the country. For instance, in 

 Kansas, which is known as one of the 

 tornado states, the rates would be much 

 higher than in a territory like that 

 around Chicago, where disastrous wind 

 storms are a rare occurrence. 



It has been a hard matter, however, 

 even to get this insurance at a reasonable 

 rate in Chicago, and the experience of 

 one of the large greenhouse concerns 

 near that city may be of interest, as it 



and all circumstances excluded damage to 

 glass. The combination of the two pol- 

 icies, however, covered everything and 

 by dividing the responsibility between 

 the two companies, a rate resulted that 

 was just about half that asked by either 

 company if they insured all the points in- 

 volved. 



The principle is to divide the responsi- 

 bility and reduce the cost, and this might 

 be done to advantage in any part of the 

 country, the rates being lower or higher 

 according to the individual risk and its 

 location. 



Boiler Insurance. 



When we come to the question of 

 boiler insurance, we reach a phase of in- 

 surance that is entirely different from 

 any other. In what way? In the fact 

 that the inspections which are constantly 



being made of the insured boilers fre- 

 quently point out defects in time to avoid 

 serious accident, and often reveal ineflB- 

 ciency on the part of employees, whose 

 ignorance may ruin a valuable plant, 

 even without causing an explosion. At 

 first glance the foregoing statement does 

 not show the full extent of the protection 

 offered as compared with the payment of 

 loss resulting from an explosion, so let us 

 consider further. 



A serious boiler explosion is a terrible 

 thing. It frequently, in fact usually, 

 means a loss of life, in addition to great 

 property damage. Anything that can be 

 done to prevent these disasters is a sa- 

 cred duty. Just think — since October 1, 

 1867, there have occurred over 10,000 

 recorded boiler explosions, causing the 

 death of more than 12,500 persons, the in- 

 jury of 16,000 others, and the destruc- 

 tion of millioi/s of dollars ' worth of prop- 

 erty. Boiler inspection would have saved 

 a large proportion of those lives and 

 much of the damaged property. 



Many owners of heating boilers have 

 the mistaken idea that, because of the 

 low pressure carried, the boiler is not so 

 liable to explode as a high pressure 

 boiler. This is not true, however. A 

 high pressure power boiler is fully as 

 strong, in relation to pressure carried, as 

 the low pressure heating boiler, and 

 the one is no more subject to ex- 

 plosion than the other. This fact 

 is fully shown by the many explo- 

 sions that occur in low pressure heating 

 plants. The accompanying illustrations 

 give some idea of a most disastrous heat- 

 ing boiler explosion which occurred in 

 the greenhouses of George M. Kellogg, 

 Pleasant Hill, Mo. The damage was es- 

 timated at $75,000. No one was injured, 

 as the explosion occurred just before the 

 employees arrived for work in the morn- 

 ing, but about 50,000 square feet of glass 

 were destroyed. 



This boiler was one of thirteen, and 

 investigation after the accident showed 

 that inspection service would most likely 

 have found the defect in time to prevent 

 the disaster. This case is only one of 

 many, and, if space would permit, exam- 

 ple after example could be given show- 

 ing conclusively that heating boilers 

 should be inspected as regularly and thor- 

 oughly as the power variety. 



The Hartford Steam Boiler Inspection 

 and Insurance Co., which is the only com- 

 pany that handles boiler insurance ex- 

 clusively and is, without doubt, the 

 strongest and most reliable concern in 

 the business, makes the following state- 

 ment : " It is sometimes difficult for a 

 layman to understand how it is possible 

 for a steam heating boiler, operated at a 

 pressure of from five to fifteen pounds 

 per square inch, to explode. It is more 

 difficult to understand how a hot water 

 boiler can explode, when it is not sup- 

 posed to carry any steam pressure at all. 

 To those of us who are in the business 

 of inspecting and insuring boilers of all 

 types, there is nothing strange about it, 

 particularly in view of the conditions of 

 care and management under which these 

 low pressure boilers are operated." 



Here is another case which emphasizes 

 the facts previously stated. A horizontal 

 tubular boiler used for heating the gfreen- 

 houses of Miller & Sons, at Bracondale, 

 near Toronto, Canada, and operated at a 

 pressure of from five to ten pounds per 

 square inch, exploded at 1 : 30 p. m., April 

 21, 1909. The boiler was completely dis- 

 rupted, a portion of it weighing about 

 one ton being thrown a distance of nearly 

 one-quarter of a mile. The property dam- 



