It appears to be a weakness with a good many florists to multiply the number of feet of glass they own, especially when bringing themselves before their brother florists. E. Hippard's greenhouses as described by N. B. Stover, as containing over 12,000 feet of glass, cannot (according to my measurements a few days ago) be anything but a mistake. I could not make out much more than the half of this amount, but perhaps I cannot measure so correctly as Mr. Stover. The ground occupied by the houses covers only a space of between 5,000 and 6,000 square feet; and how 12,- 000 feet of glass can be put on this I know not. Now, as to the price of coal, the meanest kind of bituminous slack can be had on the track for one dollar per ton of 2,000 pounds, and Mr. Hippard having no horse of his own, would have to hire the hauling, which would not be less than twenty-five cents per ton; this would make the slack delivered, $1.25 per ton. I consider, however, that for heating greenhouses, that at the very least one ton of hard coal is worth two tons of soft coal, even good lump coal, and certainly worth a good deal more than poor slack.

Therefore, Mr. Chaapel, do not leave Pennsylvania and come to Ohio expecting to have your greenhouses heated for almost nothing. Although Youngstown is right in the centre of a mining district it costs just about as much to the florists to heat their greenhouses here as it does in the east.

It takes a certain amount of heating material to heat a given amount of water sufficiently to make steam, and I consider there is just as little waste heat passes off from the Exeter heating apparatus of Mr. Chaapel's as from the locomotive boiler of Mr. Hippard's. And furthermore, from what I have seen of both boilers, I consider that one ton of hard coal in the Exeter boiler will produce as much steam as two tons of our lump coal costing $2.00 per ton, will produce in the locomotive boiler.

I know from considerable practice, that one ton of hard coal in a Hitching's corrugated boiler will maintain a higher temperature for the same time, than two tons of our best block bituminous coal.

There are two classes of people daily to be met with. The one is continually trying to make out how much can be accomplished without much outlay. The other is just the reverse, making everything cost much more than it really does. The first is the more hurtful in the florist business, and has been the means of making many a one spend much time in trying to get something for nothing.

[It has often been felt that a definition of " feet of glass" would be very desirable, as the expression is very indefinite as it stands. Some, and we think this is the general idea, understand the square feet of roof surface, but we are told others include the square feet of the glass sides and gable ends when there are any. Then there are some who mean by a thousand feet of glass, a thousand square feet of earth surface covered by glass. None of these definitions will tell just what it is desirable to know when we talk about heating, namely, the number of cubic feet of air in the house the heating apparatus has to warm; but still the number of " feet of glass " gives an approximation, and it is well to keep up the expression. But we should like an expression of opinion whether it would not be better to have, it generally understood that "feet of glass" means square feet of earth surface. - Ed. G. M].

In reply to Mr. Harry Chaapel's communication in November number of the Gardeners' Monthly, I admit my communicaion was rather a query, for the reason that I had not mentioned the price of fuel.

I certainly do not know what Mr. Chaapel's boiler is capable of doing, or whether it is a fancy or a common critter; but this much I do know, that our boiler is by no means fancy, but on the contrary, a very homely looking thing that eats any kind of stuff you give it.

We used the past very cold winter ninety tons of Saw-mill Run slack, at $1.00 per ton delivered at our place. This slack cokes over nicely, and keeps a good hot fire for a long time, considering the large amount of condensing surface. We fired from one to every three hours, according to the state of the weather.

I have no doubt that many others of the readers of the Gardeners' Monthly were as much surprised as Mr. Chaapel, at the low cost of fuel for heating such a large amount of glass; and I probably was more surprised than anyone. There is, and has been, quite a controversy in regard to the heating of greenhouses by steam, for and against. The general complaint is because the expense connected therewith, generally costing more fuel than hot water; therefore I consider our plan and fixtures a success.

Our place is not very distant from Mr. Chaapel, and a call would no doubt give him quite a relief, and better the condition of his purse a few hundred dollars. We will, or at least Mr. Hippard will, entertain him free of expense while staying here. $400 for heating the same amount of glass that we heat for $90, is quite a difference, and certainly I think there must be something wrong somewhere. Youngstown, O.