THE GARDENERS' CHRONICLE OF AMERICA. 



425 



to all fruit houses. Drainage is also shown, and also 

 method of filling border. 



Side walls should not be higher than one foot above 

 grade in fruit houses, as otherwise it casts unnecessary 

 shade, and in starting an early vinery the less shade at 

 every point the better. In the matter of trellis it will 

 be found to be an advantage to keep it about two feet 

 away from the glass as this allows more air to pass be- 

 tween the vines and the glass, which means less shading 

 and better results all around. 



In building the boiler room it is well to provide space 

 for enough coal to supply the greater part of the Winter 

 season for many reasons. This space should be placed 

 beyond the building line to facilitate unloading, as all 

 that will be required will be to drop the coal into the cellar 

 through manholes at convenient points. 



Fig. 4 shows the new peach houses with method used 

 in providing growing space for the trees, which explains 

 itself. The trellis is spaced seven feet apart on account 

 of the width and height of the house. For obvious rea- 

 sons the floors of these houses have been graded longi- 

 tudinally. They are depressed six inches from the level, 

 about 25 feet apart, with drain outlet at the low points ; 

 thus each section is properly taken care of. In a house 

 of this width it is not necessary to devote all the space 

 between the heating trench and outside walls for a bor- 

 der. All our fruit borders are three feet in depth, which 

 is a sample for both soil and drainage. We use brickbats 

 for drainage, which is splendid material, with 3-inch 

 drain pipes leading to the drain outlet at convenient 

 points. Each gardener can decide for himself how many 

 of these should be laid among the drainage material on 

 top of the floor. 



Fig. 5 shoW'S a section of the orange house. The beds 



arc graded at bottom as explained in peach houses. The 

 beds are reduced to the sizes shown on section to prevent 

 too much root action. To confine the roots thus, keeps 

 the trees in control, and a better setting, of fruit is the' 

 result. 



In heating this house steam is used as well as hot 

 water, and for the following reason : 



\\'hen the crop matures early in December the steam 

 is used to the e.xclusion of hot w-ater. There are three 

 lines of l^-inch pipe placed at the gutter line which 

 helps to keep the space occupied by the trees much 

 cooler than if we depended on the hot water pipes to 

 maintain the proper temperature. This method prevents 

 the trees from coming into flow'er till well on in the 

 Spring, when they will set much better, as conditions will 

 be much more favorable for this result than if they were 

 started earlier. 



]\Iost heating engineers will smile and maybe call you 

 a dreamer when you mention placing heating pipes up 

 some distance from the floor in a high house. I had 

 some of them placed on the trusses at the foot of the 

 dome in one palm house and it certainly helped to im- 

 prove conditions. The idea of placing twelve 3j^-inch 

 pipes under the side benches of a palm house and in many 

 cases not more than si.x inches away, is not conducive to 

 the health of any plant, as those who have experienced 

 these conditions well know. Of course steam is the only 

 heating medium we have at present that could be placed 

 in the position I have referred to, but I believe the time is 

 near at hand when electricity will solve this problem. 



Regarding the ditYerent types of construction, the 

 curved eave has the call from every point of view. Be- 

 tween the wooden bar and steel frame or the all steel each 

 one can decide for himself. 



Estate Management 



By Wm. H. Duckham, Manager of the D. Willis James Estate, Madison, N. J. 



I have accepted the kind invitation of your authorities 

 here to speak to you briefly concerning the duties of an 

 estate manager, or head gardener, or superintendent, or 

 W'hatever other name may be given him. Perhaps at 

 the outset I had better give you my authority lest some 

 of you may ask by what right I address you on this sub- 

 ject. W'ithout any boast and merely because it is not 

 possible that any of you should know me personally, I 

 am to be allowed to say that for nineteen years I have had 

 the entire management of a large and beautiful country 

 estate in the suburbs of New York City. 



During the whole of this period I have had complete 

 and authoritative charge of the mansion in which my 

 employer resides ; of the gardens, lawns and shrubbery 

 which surround it ; of the greenhouses, and of the farm, 

 including the dairy cattle, the poultry, and all of the sup- 

 plies which are grown upon the estate. Surely my e.x- 

 perience has ben extensive and varied. I shall, of course, 

 not attempt to usurp any of the duties of your able pro- 

 fessors to give particular instruction on any of these 

 separate fields which have come under my daily care. 

 You will have already been taught, or will later be taught, 

 the details of greenhouse work, of poultry keeping, stock 

 raising, crop growing, and all these other fields which 

 come under the care of an estate manager or superin- 

 tendent. What I must do is rather to make some general 

 statements which have grown out of my own observation 

 and experience. I do not pose as an authority in scientific 

 matters and speak only as a man who was born a gar- 

 dener, is living a gardener, and confidently expects to die 

 a gardener. Let me say also at the outset that I love my 



profession ; that I have been happy in it, and that I am 

 still, and I congratulate you if you are looking forward 

 to a similar career. Carlyle says somewhere, "If you 

 are happy in your work ask no other happiness." I am 

 happy in mine and have no doubt that, if you go about it 

 in the right way you will also lead a happy life. One of 

 my friends and neighbors says that all gardeners live to 

 be old, and I am disposed to think that this is so fre- 

 quently true that I might also promise you long life in 

 addition to all the other benefits. 



It will be a pleasant thought for you also to remember, 

 that in the older communities on the other side of the sea, 

 it has long been felt that the gardener and florist bear 

 very definite relations to the moral forces of the com- 

 munity. They contribute by their work to the upbuild- 

 ing of a more gracious and pleasing civilization, and I 

 hope that when you begin your work you will feel that 

 you are working with ministers, teachers, and physicians 

 for the general good of your community. 



Perhaps I may be permitted to say at the outset that 

 there seems to me to be an enormous and very rapid 

 progress in the development of fine private estates in 

 America. Where there were two or three near our great 

 cities there arc now^ scores and hundreds on the .Atlantic 

 seaboard, and they are also moving westward. More and 

 more frequently do we hear of the foundation of new 

 properties, the development of which is entrusted in every 

 case to the best man that can be found. You will have 

 the great advantage of a college training, thoroughly 

 scientific in character and yet broadly based upon the 

 practical side. The men of my generation had no such 



