GAS FUELS. 



VEN with the rapid spread of 

 gas as a fuel for both heating 

 and cooking, has come a very 

 remarkable increase in the de- 

 mand for gas. From letters 

 received by The American 

 Garden it is evident that 

 great interest is taken by flor- 

 ists and owners of greenhouses in the matter of 

 gaseous fuels. A number of florists already use 

 natural gas in their greenhouses, and nearly all the 

 manufacturers of steam and hot-water apparatus 

 now furnish boilers adapted to burning gas. (See 

 January American Garden). 



It may be well, therefore, to ascertain, as clearly 

 as we can without going into the technical side of 

 the matter, just what is meant by gaseous fuel, and 

 how such fuels should be used. There is, at first 

 sight, an apparent confusion in the names of such 

 fuels. There is natural gas, producer gas, fuel gas, 

 illuminating and water gas, and there are a number 

 of vapor fuels. These last are not gas fuels, but 

 inflammable sprays or vapors made from oils. Some 

 of these vapor and gas fuels are in greater or less 

 degree of value in heating horticultural buildings. 



We may begin with the oldest of the gases — common 

 street or illuminating gas. The making of this gas is 

 very simple and is at the same time expensive. For a 

 long time it was the only method of making gas, and is 

 still largely used in many of our cities. A coal, rich in 

 gas, is placed in a retort over a strong fire and cooked. 

 It amounts to cooking, but is properly called destructive 

 distillation. That is, the gas is distilled out of the coal 

 and the process destroys the coal, turning it into coke. 

 The gas is cleaned or washed to free it from impurities, 

 and is then stored in the holder ready for distribution 

 through the street mains. This gas gives a luminous 

 flame, and is a good fuel gas for warming greenhouses. 

 The chief objection to it is the cost. 



Natural gas is practically a wild gas found in the earth 

 in vast quantities, and obtained by boring into the 

 ground. It is an admirable fuel, and is used as such 

 over a large extent of our country. Next to these come 

 producer gas, water gas and fuel gas. These are tech- 

 nical terms, used to describe varieties of gas made in a 

 number of ways in a great variety of gas-making plants 

 that are commonly included under the general name of 

 "gas producers." We need not here stop to examine 

 these gases in detail. It is sufficient to know that coal, 

 oil and steam can be by some of these methods made 



to give us gaseous fuels that are suited to boilers for steam 

 and hot water. The term water gas is misleading. Gas is 

 not made directly from water. Steam that comes from 

 water may be turned into a gas, but it is no longer steam, 

 for it is completely decomposed and destroyed. Coal 

 will also give gas, oils will also give gas, and these, com- 

 bined with the gas made from steam, form, in various 

 combinations, the various gases known as producer gas, 

 water gas and fuel gas. 



Our supply of coal and of oil for making these gases 

 is apparently inexhaustible, and of water for steam, 

 there is clearly no end. Many people have thought that 

 if water can be turned into steam and then be destroyed 

 and turned into a gas, that the supply of water might 

 some day give out. Every gas lamp or gas stove that 

 burns gives back to the atmosphere water. Nothing is 

 really lost in the world. The elements change, but the 

 amount of material in one form or another is forever un- 

 changed. Fuel and water are undoubtedly the fuels of 

 the future. They give good heat, and they are cheap. 

 It is estimated that some of these gases can be made for 

 less than 20 cents a thousand feet. We need never ex- 

 pect to buy them at this rate of the gas companies ! Gas 

 companies must have their fat little dividends, and it is 

 doubtful if gas fuel will be sold at retail for less than 50 

 cents, including the delivery through the street mains. 

 It is quite possible, however, that the time will come 

 when florists with very large houses may set up gas pro- 

 ducers on their own land, and make their own fuel, and 

 in that case they will undoubtedly obtain very cheap 

 fuel, as they will get rid of the costly mains laid in the 

 streets. 



Closely allied to these gas producers are the new ap- 

 |5aratus for burning the spray or vapor of oil. These 

 appliances, by means of a blast of steam or of com- 

 pressed air or both, produce a fine spray or mist of 

 petroleum oil, and this vapor may be burned under a 

 boiler and give a very great heat. Some of these vapor 

 producers are closely allied to gas producers, and their 

 products seem in some instances to be a mixture of gas 

 and vapor. Gasoline vapor stoves for cooking are also 

 in use in a limited way, but it is doubtful if they are just 

 the thing for heating greenhouses. Some of these vapor 

 fuels are largely used in manufacturing and in steam 

 making, and under various names may some day be of 

 use in our greenhouses for steam boilers. 



It is yet too early to say what is to be the outcome of 

 these various processes, but the interest in the subject is 

 so great, the demand for improved fuels so extensive, that 

 out of them all is likely to come something that will 

 be just what we want. So far as gas is concerned, it is 

 not so much the fuel of the future as of to-day. Gas 

 can be made in vast quantities at little cost. Almost 



