T1IE LADIES' FLORAL CABINET. 
211 
benefit of those interested in the subject, as our expe¬ 
rience during that period has taught us. 
The first question that presents itself, and one that 
has been discussed, pro et con, with great interest, and 
which affects the vital part of the whole system, 
namely: Can plants thrive as well when grown by steam- 
heat as when grown in a house heated by hot water ? 
this question, I am glad to say, I can answer in the af¬ 
firmative; and, moreover, I may say they can be better 
grown; and why ? Because the difference in tempera¬ 
ture between steam at low pressure and boiling water, 
is very little, and the grower has the means of keeping 
in his house the amount of moisture proper for the wel¬ 
fare of his plants. To illustrate my point and show 
that steam-heat is neither as drying nor as scorching as 
commonly imagined, I will take our “ Cornelia Cook ” 
house as an example. All growers of Cook Roses know 
well how the least drop of water will ruin a valuable 
Rose, and how necessary is care in syringing them. In 
our Cook house during the past winter, our only trouble 
has been too much moisture —the buds damped off to a 
very large extent. We did not syringe from October to 
March, and the greatest enemy of Rose culture, the red 
spider, did not trouble us materially. This illustration 
shows that the difference in the amount of moisture in 
the atmosphere in houses heated by steam and in those 
heated by hot water is nil, or at any rate not to be con¬ 
sidered. 
The advantage we find to the grower in steam over 
hot water is the ease with which the temperature of a 
house can be kept even, and indeed without varying a 
degree, unless desired by the grower; thus in winter no 
blast of cold air need be let in; and such a blast, even if 
it does no injury, gives one just so much more cold air 
to heat. Any horticulturist will appreciate the advan¬ 
tage of such an even temperature, for we all know that 
a cold or warm blast brings on mildew. In dark weather 
or during sudden changes, if the temperature runs up, 
or down; besides other ill effects which may be produced, 
the color of the Roses will deteriorate; but having the 
inside temperature so thoroughly under control, it is 
possible to produce a more uniform color in one’s 
flowers despite the weather. We find still another ad¬ 
vantage in being able to control so perfectly our tem¬ 
perature, namely; in preventing almost entirely the 
blowing of Roses in early fall and late spring. This is 
especially valuable with such Roses as Bon Silenes, 
Safranos and Perles. Again, in a cold, bright winter- 
day we turn off the steam from our houses as soon as 
they have reached the required temperature, and do not 
turn it on again until the rays of the sun have left the 
houses; for the effect of the heat from the steam pipes 
is felt at once, therefore no drop in the temperature 
takes place unless desired. A s the pipes cool in about 
fifteen minutes, we have, during a fine day, no arti¬ 
ficial heat, and do not therefore have to ventilate as 
much as we otherwise would. For these reasons I 
hold that better results can be obtained by the use 
of steam than other known methods of greenhouse¬ 
heating. 
The next consideration and one indeed not less in im¬ 
portance is that of relative cost. Steam costs very 
much less to put in than hot-water, especially on a large 
scale. For steam pipes are cheaper than hot-water 
pipes and a steam boiler cost no more than a hot-water 
one. Therefore the question of economy in the first in¬ 
stance would be largely in favor of steam. As regards 
the cost of running steam, men hold that a given sur¬ 
face of glass under the same conditions, can be heated 
cheaper by steam than by hot-water. This has proved 
to be the case with us, as the following will show: Our 
establishment consists of 55,CC0 square feet of glass’ 
heated by two sixty horse-power tubular boilers, the 
houses being supplied with one and a quarter inch pipes. 
The houses are heated during the day, in cloudy 
weather to 65°, and at night to 55° or 60°, according to 
the plants which the house contains. For a house one 
hundred feet by twenty-five, we have twelve runs of 
1J4 inch pipes. Our consumption of coal for the season 
1883-84, firing from the 18th of October until the 30th 
of April, was 275 tons. Our consumption of coal under 
our hot-water system was 400 tons, making a saving 
with us of over a hundred tons; which I think would 
have been more had we fired as long as we do now, and 
kept the houses at our present temperature. During 
the last few years we have changed our business from 
plant-growing to rose-growing, (cut-flowers), for the 
New York market. We, therefore, require now a very 
much higher average temperature, earlier and later 
firing in the fall and spring, than was necessary in former 
years. I have been in our houses last winter when the 
thermometer registered outside but 3° of 0° and found 
the inside temperature to be 60°. To the practical 
horticulturist I think these figures will speak for 
themselves. 
Another question is respecting the best apparatus to 
use. Although steam, during the fitly years ihat 
it has been used for heating purposes, has been con¬ 
stantly applied to more perfect apparatus, still there 
seems now a large scope for inventive genius in im¬ 
provements in the yet crude system. For our purposes 
the low pressure has many advantages over the high : 
first, steam at five pounds pressure is at a temperature 
but slightly higher than boilingwater ; second, the ease 
of handling a low pressure boiler is a great considera¬ 
tion, all that is required being a man capable of making 
a good fire ; another advantage, and by no means the 
least is the safety contributed by the fact that the water 
is returned to the boiler by gravitation, and thus the 
danger of low water in the boiler, due to a sleepy fire¬ 
man, is obviated. Our experience with heating pijes 
indicates that one inch pipe gives the best satisfaction— 
that is, the greatest amount of heat for the least amount 
of coal burned. 
A. wcrd with respect to the advisability of growers 
using this method of heating. Any one, of course, from 
the foregoing, or otherwise, can judge for himself, but 
from my experience I should say, that for a place of 
twenty thousand feet of glass it would be advisable, 
unless they were previously supplied with hot water, to 
use steam, but on no account to take out their hot water 
pipes and boilers. In our own case we were compelled 
by wear and tear to spend considerable money, and we 
concluded to gradually introduce steam ; this we did. 
My advice to small growers is to hold on to hot water 
and not to touch steam, but in a large establishment 
there seems no doubt as to its advisability. To any one 
wishing to see plants growing in steam-heat, I would 
say that I would be pleased to see any such at my green¬ 
houses at Bayside, Long Island, and will give them all 
the information in my power. 
Bayside, L. I. 
John H. Taylor. 
