196 



THE GARDEN MAGAZINE 



January, 1918 



immediate results are not an object, because 

 in the long run these younger trees will be 

 more satisfactory and productive. Older 

 trees that have been grown in pots or tubs 

 may of course be used. 



Facts again? Certainly! Last season I 

 planted several hundred one-year peach trees, 

 some of which had blossoms last spring! No 

 I fruit followed, however. I did not expect it. 

 The trees are now full of flower buds for the 

 coming spring. I also planted several score 

 of two- to four-year apple, cherry and plum 

 trees. A few of the oldest sour cherry trees 

 bore some fruit last summer; but the two-year 

 trees have set nearly as many fruit buds for 

 next season's crop and moreover are shaplier 

 trees. This is equally true of the young 

 plum and sweet cherry trees. Several of the 

 hundred or more two-year apple trees will 

 have flowers this spring; whether or not they 

 will mature fruit remains to be seen. Two- 

 year old quince bushes planted last spring 

 blossomed but bore no fruit; they probably 

 will have a fair show of quinces next fall. 



Among trees not included above are a lot of 

 dwarf and standard pears, two years old when 

 planted. A few will bloom this spring. There 

 are also a lot of one year apple, plum, and 

 sweet cherry trees which bid fair to be the 

 finest formed trees in the whole plantation be- 

 cause they were pruned back to have the 

 main or frame limbs develop exactly where 

 wanted. Herein lies one of the chief advan- 

 tages of buying one year old trees. Of 

 course, such trees usually require a year or two 

 longer to come into bearing but they generally 

 catch up to and overtake the older trees! In 

 the orchard I have been discussing, partly set 

 in the fall of 1916 and partly in the spring of 

 1917, we will see the beginning of fruit produc- 

 tion in 1918. Isn't this quick enough for a~y 

 one? 



Some varieties are more precocious than 

 others. The Rochester peach is the only one 

 that bore blooms last spring upon trees set the 

 previous autumn — a year earlier than usual. 

 Montmorency, English Morello, Early Rich- 

 mond, and Marguerite cherries often begin 



to bear the second season after two-year trees 

 have been planted; Bartlett pears often when 

 only one year older. Among the apples several 

 are proverbial for precocity: Oldenburg and 

 Yellow Transparent often start the year 

 after being transplanted; indeed they have 

 been known to bear a few fruits while still in 

 the nursery row! 



Where Space Economy is Imperative 



"T\WARF trees are specially desirable for 

 U small places. The suburban garden 

 which would be crowded if two or three 

 standard apple trees were planted on it 

 can easily accommodate thirty to fifty dwarf 

 trees of apple, pear, peach, plum, apricot, 

 nectarine, sweet and sour cherry. A still 

 greater advantage is that dwarf trees begin 

 to bear while still very young — in a year, or 

 not more than two or three after planting, 

 whereas the same varieties grown as standard 

 trees might require two or three times as long. 



\* This article is the beginning of a series dealing 

 with the home fruit garden in the old fashioned way. 



Solving the Fuel Problem 



NECESSITY FOR CONSERVING THE FUEL SUPPLY— VARIOUS WAYS OF SAVING COAL 



THE Fuel Administration directs at- 

 tention to the fact that under 

 the present condition of fuel short- 

 age, it becomes necessary for every 

 operator of a greenhouse to carefully consider 

 his fuel problem. The shortage is such that 

 at least 10 per cent, and possibly 20 per cent., 

 of fuel must be saved for the necessities of 

 war. While every effort is being made to 

 increase production, it has become perfectly 

 evident that this alone will not suffice. There 

 must be a careful consideration of the uses 

 to which coal is being put and an equally 

 careful consideration of the efficient use of 

 coal in essential industries. 



Greenhouse heating presents special pro- 

 blems of its own. One of the largest items in 

 the efficient use of fuel is the character and 

 degree of attention that is given to the fire. 

 In residence heating practice, a satisfactory 

 plant is designed to maintain service through 

 a period of eight hours without attention. 

 In manufacturing and public service steam 

 plants, good hand firing implies firings every 

 three to five minutes apart. In house- 

 heating practice, about 50 per cent, of the 

 heat of the coal is usefully employed, while in 

 good steam boiler practice, 70 per cent, is 

 readily attained. This very considerable 

 difference is to a great extent due to the 

 degree of attention which is bestowed upon 

 the fire. Greenhouse practice occupies an 

 intermediate place between these two ex- 

 tremes; the smaller greenhouses treating the 

 firing of the boiler as an incidental chore 

 and obtaining rather indifferent results, while 

 the larger houses may approximate closely to 

 the practice of commercial steam plants. 



T^HE first consideration should be as to 

 -*- what degree of attention can, under the 

 circumstances, be afforded to the furnaces of 

 the heating plant. Increased attention means 

 coal economy. The furnace should be in 

 good order; the grates in such condition that 

 good coal does not fall through broken places; 

 and shaking grates should be used with 

 caution. If more than 30 per cent, of the 

 weight of the refuse is unburned coal, there 



is something the matter with the grates or 

 the practice in handling the fire. If the 

 boiler is brick set, the bridgewall should be 

 in good condition, the space behind the 

 bridgewall cleaned out so as to give as large 

 a volume in which gases can mix as possible, 

 and the heating surfaces of the boiler should 

 be cleaned often and thoroughly. 



One of the most prolific sources of loss is by 

 leakage of air into the boiler setting. This 

 lowers the temperature of the gases, reduces 

 the draft, and carries off a large amount of 

 heat up the chimney. Leaks are found in 

 ill-fitting firing doors, cracks in the boiler 

 setting, bad fitting between the boiler and the 

 brickwork; and all of these can be found by 

 taking a lighted candle and holding it near to 

 a suspected leak. If the candle flame is 

 drawn toward the setting it is evidence of a 

 leak that should be fixed. It is not at all 

 difficult to increase the efficiency of the use of 

 coal in some plants 10 or 15 per cent, by 

 careful attention to this single detail. 



' I A HE process of burning appears to be such 

 ■"■ a simple one, with which we have so 

 long been familiar, that too little attention is 

 apt to be paid to the requirements of its 

 efficient conduct. In competitions between 

 expert firemen differences of 10 per cent, in 

 economy are quite possible, due entirely to 

 the degree of skill. It is easy to imagine 

 that comparison between skilled and un- 

 skilled operation would show differences of 20 

 to 30 per cent. 



Good firing is an art that can be acquired 

 only by well directed practice. First, there 

 must be correct notions about the process of 

 combustion and the function of the fuel, the 

 air, the grates, the combustion space, the 

 draft, the dampers, and all the elements that 

 enter into the problem. This information can 

 be had from books. The United States 

 Bureau of Mines issues directions for hand- 

 firing which should be in the hands of every 

 fireman. Technical Paper 80, " Hand-firing 

 soft coal under power plant boilers," is most 

 helpful for this purpose. With the proper 

 ideals the acquirement of skill to put these 



ideals into practice is a. matter of time and 

 willing attention. It is rarely, however, that 

 the best way is the easy way. Firemen do not 

 like to give frequent attention to a fire. It is 

 so much easier to overload the furnace at 

 long intervals. The firemen do not like to 

 clean flues and keep the heating surfaces clean; 

 as a matter of fact it is easier to shovel coal 

 into the furnace than it is to attend to a 

 dirty and disagreeable job of flue cleaning. 

 Under the present condition, however, the 

 man who faithfully performs these disagree- 

 able duties and saves some fuel is performing 

 "his bit" quite as truly as the worker in the 

 munition factory. 



' 1 V HE owner of a plant must consider care- 

 ■*■ fully the several fuels available. One must 

 consider not only the fuel best adapted to the 

 furnace or to the desires of the operator, but 

 must consider whether such fuels ought to be 

 used under the present difficulties of transpor- 

 tation and supply. In general, that fuel should 

 be used which either escapes railroad trans- 

 portation or, at least, has the shortest haul, 

 since transportation problems are a main fac- 

 tor in the present fuel shortage. Waste 

 wood and fallen timber should be utilized. 



' I V HE suggestion is frequently made that 

 *■ oil be substituted; but investigation 

 usually discloses the fact that oil at the 

 present time should be put to much better 

 uses than for fuel, that the supply of fuel oil 

 is also limited, and that it should be used as 

 near the source of supply as possible. 



T?OR very small plants electric heating has 

 *■ been suggested, but, there again, it must 

 be borne in mind that the electric current at 

 best represents only a very small per cent, of 

 the coal burned in the central station to 

 produce it. In very large central station 

 plants the current at the switchboard repre- 

 sents about 10 per cent, of the heat energy in 

 the coal. It is therefore rarely that electric 

 heating can compete in any way with the 

 direct use of coal. Its use must be confined 

 to cases where convenience is predominant 

 and where loss of heat by radiation can be 

 carefully restricted. 



