Being deeply interested in anything that appertains to the heating or management of greenhouses, I have read closely and studied carefully the different articles submitted by your numerous correspondents. There has been a great deal said in favor of steam as a means of heating and its adaptability to greenhouse purposes; in fact some parties have made very extravagant statements, claiming that it required less attention, could be safely left for ten hours, and would save at least one-third the amount of coal that would be required by a hot water apparatus. One would think from these statements that all a florist had to do would be to put in steam and be happy. I was much pleased to read in your July number the articles by Mr. Mylius and Mr. Brenneman, for I consider that they treated the matter very fairly - and being the result of practical experience must naturally be given full credit. They both unite in stating that steam heaters require more attention than hot water - Mr. Brenneman stating that the fire in his boiler must be attended to every fifteen minutes in cold weather to keep up steam. Mr. Mylius does not go so far as this, but still he says that a steam boiler must be looked after at least every three hours in a cold snap.

I have spoken to three parties who have steam in their houses and they fully indorse the above statements; in fact one of the parties after testing a steam heater for two winters has taken it out and put in hot water; he said he used about the same amount of fuel that he would have used with hot water, and yet the parties that put it up claimed that he would save one-third.

Now then, let us take Mr. Brenneman's statement in regard to fuel and see how it compares with a hot water apparatus. He says : " Our plant-house consists of 30,000 feet of glass, heated by one boiler of 25 horse-power, having 6,000 ft. of 2-inch pipe, and using about 350 tons of coal." Taking this statement as a standard let us see what hot water would do under the same conditions. Accor-ing to practical experience plant-houses requiring 30,000 feet of glass to cover them would require about 13,000 ft. of 4-inch pipe to maintain a temperature of 650 when the thermometer outside stood at 200 below zero. I know from practical experience that a hot water boiler of good pattern will not consume more than 36 tons of coal for every 1,500 ft. 4-inch pipe used. Therefore if we use 36 tons per 1,500 ft. pipe and require 13,000 ft. pipe to heat 30,000 feet of glass, we should use about 312 tons of coal. I fail to see where the saving of fuel comes in, for Mr. Brenneman could have saved fuel by using hot water.

To give some color to my statements I would like to mention two cases to show that I have reasonable grounds on which to base my calculations. In the first place I would mention Mr. Gus. Messeberg, Florist, Flatbush, L. I., he has at present about 18,000 square feet of glass heated by hot water boilers manufactured by Thos. W. Weathered, N. Y., the total amount of coal consumed last winter being 150 tons. The man attending the fire stated to me that he had lost only one night's rest during the whole winter. The other case I would mention is that of David Deans, Florist, Astoria, L. I. He fired two of Mr. Weathered's boilers for seven months (lacking two days); the boilers heated 3,100 ft. of 4-inch pipe, amount of coal consumed 70 tons. These houses were used principally for roses and of course had to be kept at a good heat. I do not wish to take up too much of your space but would like to state that in my opinion most of the greenhouses of to-day are underpiped, florists putting in as little pipe as possible under a mistaken idea of economy. I believe in putting plenty of pipe in a house, in fact sufficient to heat to the desired temperature in any weather without straining; by so doing you will save coal and attention; of course we must have plenty of boiler.

I feel fully assured that a greenhouse heated by hot water, the work being done by good mechanics, will have a system of heat that no steam heater can equal, in ease of management, permanence of temperature, and general wear and tear.