24 THE CONSTRUCTION OF THE FORCING-HOUSE. 
house for asmall or ordinary establishment, and is a good 
type for the beginner. The same remarks may be made for 
Fig. 3, except that the unequal elevations of the walks and 
beds make it unhandy. Such a side-hill house, however, 
brings the glass very close to the greatest number of 
plants,—a result which is sometimes sought by elevat- 
ing the benches in the center of even-span houses, but 
this raises the beds so high as to make them awkward. 
Fig. 4 is an excellent type of house. Figs. 5, 6and 7 are 
probably the best types for very large establishments. 
Fig. 7 (page 22) covers the entire back yard of a city lot. 
These shed roofs are most easy to build and to keep in 
repair. The absence of gutters is a most important feature, 
for the gutter is the part of the frame which is most difficult 
to properly construct and which generally soonest gives out. 
It is advisable, in cases where an entire range or nest of 
houses is to be permanently used for one given crop, to omit 
entirely the side walls, and to simply place the plates and 
gutters on the tops of posts or pillars, allowing the spaces 
between the posts to remain open. This construction results 
in throwing the whole range into practically a single house, 
keeping the structure low, with considerable economy of 
heat and labor. Such a construction is never admissible, 
however, when it is expected that the different houses of 
the range are to be used for the growing of plants re- 
quiring different degrees of heat and moisture. The 
range of nine houses shown at the left in Fig. 8 (page 
23) are open beneath the gutters in this way, and Fig. 9 
(page 25) is a crosswise view in them. The reader sees 
a gutter near the top of the picture, with a steam pipe 
running along the plate, and the man is sitting under the 
second gutter. 
SOME OF THE STRUCTURAL DETAILS. 
The frame.—The framing of a forcing-house is well 
explained by Figs. to and 11 (pages 26 and 27). These 
pictures represent the common rafter-and-sash-bar house. 
