120 



The Weekly Florists' Review. 



JULY 6, 1S99. 



place. Never rent land to build 

 greenhouses upon. If you do, you only 

 increase the value of the land and have 

 to pay a higher price when you are 

 able to buy. This is more especially 

 true of a person in the retail business 

 building up a valuable trade in some 

 location where he has to pay the full 

 value of the trade he has built up in 

 the price of the land that he will be 

 charged by the owner when he does 

 buy. Where to buy land is one ques- 

 tion. The first and most important 

 answer to that is where the soil is 

 good, as good soil is absolutely neces- 

 sary to the greatest success. Transpor- 

 tation to and from the market is a 

 matter also to be considered. Another 

 matter of great importance is to get 

 a location within reach of the city or 

 town water. It is also well to consider 

 the future prospects of the land you 

 buy, as to its coming into the market 

 and being of greater value later on. 



When you have found this location 

 buy as much land as you possibly can, 

 giving as large an amount in a mort- 

 gage as you are able to do. In other 

 words, reserve all the money that you 

 can to build your greenhouses, as the 

 income is wholly from the houses and 

 not from the land for a great many 

 years. The greatest amount of per- 

 manent value that has been made by 

 growers in the past has been in the in- 

 crease of the value of the land. It is 

 better to go a greater distance from 

 the city and buy a small farm in a 

 good location, or a good fair sized 

 piece of land, from three to ten acres, 

 rather than locate too close to the city 

 on a small, high-priced piece of land. 

 The amount of money that would be 

 necessary to pay down on a purchase 

 of this kind would not need to be very 

 great, as a large mortgage would be 

 acepted where buildings were to be put 

 up. In some cases growers are even 

 able to obtain their land without pay- 

 ing down any money at all. I would 

 not expect to pay down over ?500 on a 

 place large enough to properly start 

 business. 



Building Greenhouses. 



The most reasonable price at which 

 cypress greenhouses, with 16 by 24 

 glass, could be built would be about 

 $500 for each 1,000 square feet of 

 ground covered. I would advise the 

 building of long houses, as there 

 is a good deal of saving in 

 building in that way. If I were 

 building 5,000 square feet for rose 

 or carnation growing, I would put 

 the whole amount in one house. In 

 width, build all that can be thoroughly 

 ■ ventilated with one row of ventilators, 

 which would be twenty-five feet for 

 roses or carnations. A person with 

 limited amount of money should build 

 on wooden posts, and aim to cover as 

 much ground as possible. Nothing 

 but iron supports should be used for 

 the roof, however. Build without 

 rafters, using purlins only and support 

 them about every seven feet with the 

 iron supports. The support under the 

 ridge is best to have two arms to sup- 

 port the purlins next the ridge. Be 



careful, however, to have all purlins 

 set straight with the post supporting 

 them, as purlins set on an angle and 

 supported with a perpendicular post 

 have in some cases turned over and let 

 down the roof in the case of a heavy 

 snow storm, causing a great deal of 

 damage thereby. 



Ventilators four feet square, with 

 three feet space between each, and 

 opening from the top, I have found 

 the most satisfactory. The lower ends 

 of all bars should rest on top of the 

 plate, or gutter, with blocks to fill in 

 between. This makes not only a much 

 stronger roof, but one that will last 

 much longer, as the vital parts are 

 much better protected from decay. All 

 joints in purlins, ridge and gutter, 

 should be halved and bolted together. 

 Nails for this purpose have proved to 

 be a failure. No joint, and in fact no 

 two pieces of wood, should be put to- 

 gether in any part of a greenhouse 

 roof without being thoroughly painted. 

 It is the only chance you will ever have 

 to paint those parts and do it thor- 

 oughly when you have the chance. 

 Paint the work one coat before it is 

 put up and two coats afterwards. Use 

 galvanized wire nails in building the 

 roof, and galvanized bolts in the gut- 

 ter. Common carriage bolts two 

 inches in length are best for the pur- 

 lins and ridge. Coach screws four 

 inches in length is what I have used 

 for gutters. All of these are three- 

 eighths of an inch in diameter. 



Ventilator hinges are a great deal 

 of trouble to greenhouse men gen- 

 erally. I have been able to find in the 

 market in Boston a cast brass hinge, 

 costing about 14 cents a pair, which I 

 have used for the past twelve years 

 and not one has given out. At that 

 price it is a great deal cheaper to use 

 brass. Galvanized is fairly satisfac- 

 tory, but not so good as the brass. 

 Common iron hinges should never be 

 used. 



The many firms of greenhouse bund- 

 ers through the country build some 

 very fine iron-frame houses. These, 

 however, are too expensive for a 

 grower with limited means. The 

 house that I have described is the 

 most reasonable house for the ordi- 

 nary grower to build. An automatic 

 ventilator would be a very desirable 

 thing for a man with a small place, 

 as it would take care of the ventilation 

 while he went to the market or any- 

 where else away from the place. I have 

 used these automatic machines for five 

 years with very great satisfaction. I 

 am aware, however, that many have 

 had trouble with them. 



Heating. 



I would recommend the use of steam 

 for that purpose, as the piping could 

 be more readily and cheaply done and 

 boiler power obtained at a very reason- 

 able price. As a general thing, how - 

 ever, for a small-sized place hot water 

 is more satisfactory and is more gen- 

 erally used. It is, however, more ex- 

 pensive, both to put in and run as soon 

 as you get a place of large size. A 

 second-hand tubular boiler of good 



large capacity, larger than would be 

 needed for the original houses, would 

 be best to put in. A good large boiler 

 house, with plenty of coal space, and 

 a good tall brick chimney is some- 

 thing I would recommend every 

 grower to have, if not at first, then as 

 soon as he can afford to build it. 



Set the boiler and run the main 

 pipes as low as possible. Take your 

 steam as direct from the boiler to the 

 radiating pipe as it can be done. A 

 main pipe run through the top of the 

 house with the circulating pipes re- 

 turning I consider one of the worst 

 things that can be done in green- 

 house heating. The importance of 

 very large main pipes should not be 

 overlooked. Have your radiating 

 pipes under thorough control, so you 

 can always run a single pipe under 

 any bench you wish to in mild weather. 

 The arrangement of pipes in houses 

 with benches, which I would recom- 

 mend, is to have one pipe under each 

 bench, with the remaining pipes on 

 the side walls, ten 1%-inch pipes being 

 about what is required for a house 

 twenty-five feet wide. 



If hot water is used, set your boiler 

 as low down as possible and get as 

 much rise in the flow and return 

 direct up from the boiler to your cir- 

 culating pipes as you can, as that will 

 increase the circulation and give you 

 all that can be got out of the height 

 which you have from your boiler to 

 your radiating pipe. 



Painting acd Glazing. 



In painting, use pure white lead and 

 linseed oil. Good putty is a very im- 

 portant matter. It is best where it 

 can be done to go right to the manu- 

 facturer and have your putty made, 

 with fifteen or twenty pounds of white 

 lead in every 100 pounds of putty. 

 Common putty, such as is sold in the 

 market used for glazing, will wash out 

 like sand in the course of three or 

 four years. Zinc shoe nails are the 

 best for glazing, should be three-quar- 

 ters of an inch long and of good fair 

 size. Lay the glass the crowning side 

 down and nail only at the ends of the 

 lights, as nails in the middle cause a 

 great deal of breakage. Butted glass 

 I have never had faith enough in to 

 try. I have, however, seen some very 

 good houses built in that way. The 

 roofs of greenhouses should be painted 

 every two years. When they are in 

 good condition it is cheaper to keep 

 them so. See that there is no settling 

 of the supports under the roof, as this 

 causes breakage of the glass and a 

 straining of the joints. A quarter- 

 inch lap in laying the glass I have 

 found most satisfactory. 



Fertilizers. 



Some system of applying liquid fer- 

 tilizer should be constructed, operated 

 by steam, hot air or gravity^ jwhether 

 a windmill could be applied for this 

 purpose I don't know, but I should 

 think it might be. A system of this 

 kind is more especially required for 

 rose growing. Most small places 

 growing other lines of stock get along 



