124: STATE POMOLOGICAL SOCIETY. 



for the better part of the day. It is warmed by means of a fire-box made of 

 brick, just in the main wall of the house at tlie bottom., with a flue connecting 

 with the chimney, which reaches down to the basement. The front door was 

 made at a foundry in the city. A small saddle boiler, made by Ilitchings, 

 with some gas-pipe procured at home, complete the heating apparatus. The 

 roof is a lean-to, the upper ends of the rafters resting against the house. On 

 the top of the outer wall, all around, there is a double-glazed sash about eight- 

 een inches wide, and on the top of this sash rests the plate which receives the 

 lower ends of the rafters. 



Shelves for the plants are constructed around the outside, and also in the 

 central portion of the house looking south. There is an out-door entrance 

 which is used in warm weather. 



The entire cost of this house, Mr. Knapp assured the committee, did not ex- 

 ceed $350, and his chief object in entering the place was to gain the attention 

 of amateur cultivators of plants and lovers of trees, and the quiet enjoyments 

 of rural life, and correct a prevalent mistake among this class that these pure 

 ■sources of pleasure and comfort are too expensive for anybody but those pos- 

 sessed of large wealth. Mr. Knapp has demonstrated here that the expense is 

 not great, and thousands in the cities and villages, and throughout, the coun- 

 try, may have these cheap houses, manage them themselves, and obtain from 

 them more real enjoyment than from any other source requiring the same ex- 

 pense. Even cheaper plant-houses than this may be constructed, and prove a 

 source of constant pleasure, instruction, and enjoyment to the family and to the 

 neighborhood. 



This house is filled with rare plants, among which are varieties of ferns, 

 palms, caladiums, echeverias, alocacias, ceperonias, cannas, begonias, etc., etc., 

 a list of which will be appended to the published report of the committee. 



Mr. Knapp has succeeded in growing palms from seed Avithont difficulty by 

 •soaking the seeds in warm water, then sowing on loose soil, and covering with 

 sphagnum moss. They germinate with as much certainty as peas. 



Your committee indulge the hope that the exemplary work of Mr. Knapp 

 may find many imitators among our well-to-do citizens, both in town and 

 country. Such places are constant teachers of the art of rural adornment and 

 taste, and their influence in neighborhoods is wide and enduring. 



At Adrian. 



The committee reached Adrian on the 2-ith. There was one entry in the 

 the city, and one two miles out. The one in the city was the cold grapery 

 and grounds of Mr. A. Sigler. It is but just to state that Mr. Sigler's object 

 was not to gain praise or award, but to prove to persons of taste and to those 

 desirous of having the finer fruits that they can have their reasonable wishes 

 gratified at a very small expense indeed. Mr. Sigler has constructed a 

 cheap grapery on the rear of his city lot, with glass on two sides, and a lean-to 

 roof, with so little outlay of cash as to surprise most persons. And here we 

 found growing Black Hamburg, Rose, and White Chasselas, White Muscat of 

 Alexandria, White Tokay, Bowood Muscat, and many other varieties, about 

 thirty in all. The White Tokay is worthless except for wine. 



These vines afford an abundance of the finest fruit for home use a good part 

 of the year, besides a large portion which finds its way to the tables of friends, 

 and at a trifling cost. 



This grapery was constructed with an eye to cheapness and eflfectiveness. 



