THE NATIONAL NURSERYMAN 
191 
bloom earlier than usual. During March we had several 
freezes, and in consequence the peach crop is badly injured 
in certain sections, but to what extent it is, at this date, 
impossible to estimate. However, from reports received 
to date from different .sections of the State we think that 
the crop will be reduced fully sixty-five per cent. 
Generally, Elbertas, which produced a heavy crop last 
year, had very little bloom this year, and in consequence 
the crop of Elbertas will be very light. In Berckmans 
Brothers’ orchard, Mayfield, Ga., we have a full crop of 
Belle, Carman, and Thurber. The bloom of other varieties 
was very heavy, but these sorts were situated in lower 
ground where the frost did the most damage, consequently 
the crop of same will be very light. 
Many fruit growers who have not cared for their or¬ 
chards are cutting out same, but the progressive and up- 
to-date orchardist is giving better attention to his orchard 
than ever before. It is now a case of a “survival of the 
fittest.” Generally throughout the entire State, the 
system of cultivation of all farm crops is decidedly im¬ 
proved. 
P. J. Berckmans Co. 
POSITIVE HOT WATER CIRCULATION IN GREEN¬ 
HOUSES 
Carl S. Dow 
The gravity of the heating question in greenhouses has 
naturally given rise to many expedients for insuring a proper 
temperature in all parts of the ranges; both steam and hot 
water heating have been used to a large extent for green¬ 
house heating, and while both have many advantages, 
neither has proven entirely satisfactory. Hot water as a 
heating medium is undoubtedly superior to steam if a 
proper circulation can be maintained, and a device is now 
obtainable which makes hot water circulation positive. 
The Castle circulator which is manufactured by the 
American Auxiliary Heating Co. of Boston, Mass., over¬ 
comes what is practically the only objection to hot water 
heating—its sluggishness. With the help of this invention 
the circulation of hot water is placed upon a mechanical 
basis—the difference in temperature between the supply 
and return sides of the system no longer govern the speed 
with which the radiating surface is warmed. 
What this means is evident to any florist who has 
worried through a cold winter with no positive assurance 
that his plants will not be frozen in sudden cold snaps. 
The necessity of piling on coal, an uneconomical proceeding 
at best, is done away with by this simple apparatus which 
can be set at work merely by turning on the current. It 
consists of a small propeller set in the branch pipe and 
operated either directly or through a small belt by an 
electric motor. 
When the temperature in any part of the range shows a 
tendency to fall, it is only necessary to turn a switch and 
start up the motor to get immediate and positive circulation 
of heat throughout the greenhouses. An automatic valve 
shuts off the branch pipe in which the propeller is located 
w when its services are not needed. As soon, however, as the 
circulator is started up, this valve changes position and 
shuts off the gravity flow of the system. No attention 
need be paid this valve, as its action follows at once upon 
that of the circulator. The extreme simplicity of this 
system recommends it hardly less than its efficiency. Not 
only is heat circulated with absolute certainty but the 
amount of coal burned is materially reduced. This has 
been proven conclusively in many installations. One 
florist reports that his coal consumption has dropped from 
99 tons to 73 tons since the installation of the Castle circula¬ 
tor in his greenhouse. Another florist who has 100,000 
square feet under glass claims a saving of one-third of his 
fuel bill. How these economies are accomplished will be 
evident from a little thought of the principles underlying 
this device. 
With the ordinary system of gravity hot water heating, 
circulation is dependent solely upon the difference in 
temperature between the two sides of the system. In order 
to get quick circulation there must be a large difference in 
temperature, which means cold returns. In such a case a 
large amount of coal is necessary to heat up these cold 
returns to the temperature desired for the supply lines. 
The Castle circulator obtains much more rapid circulation 
with a drop in temperature of only a few degrees, thus 
obviating the necessity of running heavy fires to heat up 
the cold returns, while at the same time the radiating 
surfaces are kept up to a high temperature and thus 
rendered very efficient. 
MAKING IT EASY FOR ALASKAN FARMERS 
Governor Clark, of Alaska, who is a plain newspaper man when 
he isn’t governing, and a very shrewd one, said that farming would 
some day be Alaska’s chief industry. That was a large order, and 
it made a lot of people who have never been to Alaska smile scorn¬ 
fully. They forgot that Governor Clark was a neswpaper man 
and that he knows Alaska a great deal better than most New 
Yorkers know their state, for instance, or than most Coloradoans 
know theirs. They also forgot that if the same thing had been said 
of Colorado, or California, or Idaho, or Oregon a few years ago, 
they would have smiled just the same and would have been quite 
as Avrong. 
Uncle Sam has been notoriously remi.ss in the care of the baby 
empire he is bringing up on the fresh air plan up north there, but 
there is one thing he has done. He has proved beyond the shodow 
of a doubt that Alaska is no more unsuited to farming than Norway 
and Sweden, which is another way of saying that Governor Clark’s 
pronunciamento has been officially confirmed by the department 
of Agriculture, the Department of the Interior, Congress, and 
various individual officials. 
Moreover, “something is being done about it’’. In this respect 
at least. Uncle Sam is taking care of his baby. He is doing all that 
can reasonably be expected of so self-absorbed a parent to make a 
farmer of the youth, and the child is responding well. 
For several years Uncle Sam has maintained five experiment 
stations in Northland. That was not a great many, but it wasenough 
to make many important and hopeful discoveries and to start real 
farming. Then he doubled his inducements to settlers, by making 
the Alaskan homestead 320 acres instead of 160, as it is in “the 
States”. This still left it necessary, however, for the Alaskan 
settler to pay the cost of a survey before he could secure title, and a 
survey in Alaska was often an expensive thing. Now this obstacle 
is being rapidly overcome. Congress made an appropriation in 
igio to cover the cost of a government survey of the chief farming 
areas that would first be occupied. This work was put in charge 
