February 21, 1914 



HOETICULTtJSE 



265 



GREENHOUSE CONSTRUCTION 



AND HEATING. 



The Beginnings. 



<A paper read hefore tbe North Shore 



(Mass.) Horticultural Society by F. .1. 



Elder.) 



It is impossible to do more than 

 touch briefly on the various features 

 of construction and heating in a short 

 essay. A history of the subject would 

 trace the various methods of construc- 

 tion, the methods of heating and ven- 

 tilating, the reasons for these and the 

 relationships of the different factors 

 and methods to each other. Such a 

 history could not overlook the old- 

 fashioned pits with their roofs of flat 

 pitch and benches up near to the glass 

 and the roofs constructed of heavy 

 sash with small lights. The poor 

 plants struggling up to the light in 

 these dark houses were accused of 

 having an affinity for the glass. It 

 was thought that the glass "drew" 

 the plants, and it was also thought 

 that it was necessary to have the 

 plants near the glass. Now we know- 

 that the further the sash bars and 

 other roof members are from the 

 plants, the more broken up are the 

 shadows and the light is much better. 



Lean-to Houses. 



Later came the lean-to greenhouses, 

 which are still in vogue. These 

 houses, facing south and placed 

 against masonry walls, were economi- 

 cal from the heating standpoint, as the 

 rear walls absorbed the heat of the 

 sun. In the pits and lean-tos of 

 former days, the heating was first ac- 

 complished by means of stoves or 

 bricked-in furnaces. The furnaces 

 were connected to the chimney, which 

 was at the opposite end of the house, 

 by means of horizontal flues which 

 were built of brick or pipe, and were 

 placed under the benches. Such meth- 

 ods were primitive, not always cheap 

 in first cost, and decidedly wasteful. 

 Sometimes these flues leaked and then 

 the contents of the houses were killed 

 by gas. The ventilation of these old- 

 time small greenhouses was generally 

 obtained by lifting the sash, of which 

 the roofs were constructed, by means 

 of a pulley, and held open by notched 

 sticks; or by sliding the sash up and 

 down by means of ropes and pulleys. 



I do not mean to recite the history 

 or describe the evolution of the mod- 

 ern greenhouse. I wish merely to tell 

 briefly of the methods of construction 

 of the best modern private and com- 

 mercial greenhouses, and of the meth- 

 ods of heating, ventilating and bench- 

 ing these houses. 



Advent of the Iron Frame. 



The first iron-frame greenhouses 

 were erected for Mr. Jay Gould at Ir- 

 vington on the Hudson, N. Y. In this 

 range, erected nearly thirty-five years 

 ago, and still one of the notable pri- 

 vate plants, the houses were construct- 

 ed with cast-iron sills, iron rafters 

 and purlins capped with wood. The 

 range was designed and erected by 

 Mr. P. A. Lord, and the jirinciple of 

 the construction of these greenhouses 

 is still used in all iron and steel 

 frame houses. Many details are differ- 

 ent, of course, but the principal fea- 

 ture is the same — that of having the 

 iron and steel frame work inside, and 

 the wood members which received the 

 glass on the outside. This construe- 



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