XVI 



AMERICAN HOMES AND GARDENS 



January, 1908 



11 Kinnear Pressed Radiators r 



/ Selected for 



THE SINGER BUILDING, NEW YORK 



Ernest Flagg, Architect 



THE TALLEST BUILDING IN THE WORLD 



These Radiators were chosen only after the 

 most rigid examination and exhaustive test of 

 all the radiators in the market, the tests 

 thoroughly demonstrating that Kinnear 

 Pressed Radiators exceeded every possible 

 requirement for efficiency and durability. 



J'i I lie Tower alone the use of these Radiators 

 effects a saving of joo tons in weight. 



The economy of enormously valuable space 

 was another consideration, no radiation on 

 earth requiring so little space as Kinnear 

 Pressed Radiators. 



What applies to the Singer Building applies 

 to any other structure, regardless of si/i-. 

 The small office building, store or residence 

 that installs these Radiators (weighing less 

 than one-third as much as cast-iron) reduces 

 cost of construction and gains materially in 

 space required. 



And remember that when desired, Kinnear 

 Pressed Radiators may be placed 



On the Wall — Off the Floor 

 Out of the Way 



If you are building you owe it to yourself 

 to investigate this modern radiation before 

 deciding what you will install. 



Write for Catalog "D " for any desired in- 

 formation. 



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 PITTSBURGH, PA. 



CO. 



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A Leading Architect 



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In this report the authors were inclined to 

 explain the deleterious action of the grass on 

 the ground that it robbed the trees of their 

 supply of nutrient salts and that it diminished 

 the aeration of the roots. The true explanation 

 of the observed phenomena was then sought 

 for by a carefully planned series of experi- 

 ments, the results of which were presented 

 in the later reports. 



In the report of the Farm for 1903, a num- 

 ber of valuable additional points were brought 

 out. The action of grass was found to be 

 quite as deleterious on old trees as on young 

 trees, and the injury produced was indepen- 

 dent of variety or root stock. The roots of 

 trees injured by the grass were examined and 

 found to be obviously unhealthy, long and 

 straggling, dark in color, and more slender 

 than normal roots. They showed no tendency 

 to grow downward away from the grass. 



Young trees planted in a pasture, with all 

 the sod replaced around them, died during the 

 first season, whereas, when even a small area 

 of sod was permanently removed they lived. 

 In another case where holes three feet in 

 diameter were opened in the sod, the trees 

 planted, and the sod replaced, at the end of 

 two seasons the trees which were still alive 

 exhibited a growth 32 per cent, below the 

 normal, and the mortality of the whole series 

 was 72 per cent. 



Trees eight years old from graft, growing 

 and fruiting normally, were grassed down. 

 Even in the first season the foilage and bark 

 assumed a peculiar light color, characteristic 

 of the trees in other grassed plots, and 

 growth was practically nothing. A small 

 area of soil left around a young tree was shown 

 to retard growth immediately after planting, 

 but as the roots penetrated beyond the grass 

 area an increase in growth accompanied by 

 a more healthy appearance became manifest. 

 Conversely, when the sod was permanently 

 removed for an area of several feet around 

 the trees when first planted, the trees grew 

 well until their roots had penetrated outward 

 to the surrounding grassed soil, after which 

 they began to show the usual and unmistak- 

 able effects of grass, the leaves yellowing 

 earlier in autumn than in normal cases and 

 the fruit of green varieties turning red on 

 ripening. When trees were subjected to the 

 action of grass on one side only the branches 

 on that side showed the grass effects, while 

 the others appeared normally healthy. 



The facts just stated argue very strongly 

 against the supposition that the ill effects of 

 the grass are to be considered as due to re- 

 moval of nutrient salts, to excessive evapora- 

 tion, or to inadequate aeration. These three 

 possibilities were thoroughly tested by experi- 

 ments both in the open and in especially con- 

 structed iron pots. Using pure sand and 

 natural soil, which had been analyzed to 

 determine its content in nutrient salts, it was 

 definitely shown that the action of the grass 

 upon the trees could not be ascribed to its 

 removing nutrient material from the soil. 

 Artificial applications of water showed just 

 as clearly that this effect could not be con- 

 sidered as due to drought conditions induced 

 by the presence of the herbage. Cultures 

 in which air was excluded from the soil, and 

 other similar ones in which the soil was 

 artificially aerated, brought out the fact that 

 exclusion of air could not be the cause of the 

 grass effect. Indeed during the two first sea- 

 sons of air exclusion in the field — by means 

 of broad bands of sheet iron and the cement- 

 ing over of the soil surface — the growth of 

 the trees and yield of fruit w r ere actually in 

 excess of those exhibited by the control trees. 

 Artificial aeration of the soil around trees in 

 grass had no appreciable effect. It seemed 

 possible that the grass might produce its effect 

 through increasing the amount of carbon 



dioxide in the soil. But determinations of 

 the amount of this gas present in the soil of 

 the various plots showed less carbon dioxide 

 in the grassed-over ground than in that with- 

 out grass. Furthermore, the artificial intro- 

 duction of carbon dioxide into the soil of pot 

 cultures had no appreciable injurious effect 

 upon the trees. 



The effects of differences in the tempera- 

 ture between the grassed and open soil were 

 also studied, and it was again found that this 

 factor could not possibly explain the injury 

 produced by grass. 



Strong root pruning every year stunted the 

 growth of the trees much more than did the 

 presence of grass, but had a different effect. 

 These trees were prevented from dying only 

 by artificial application of water, yet they 

 showed none of the effects produced by grass, 

 their leaves being green and as normal as in 

 well-fed trees. 



In view of this mass of evidence the authors 

 concluded in this report, "that this action of 

 grass is not merely a question of starvation 

 in any form, nor of any simple modifications 

 of the ordinary conditions under which a 



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A simple text book telling 

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Price, 50c. post Paid. 

 MUNN & CO., 361 Broadway, New York City 



