30 THE CONSTRUCTION OF THE FORCING-HOUSE. 
sider the draining of the water into the groove to be the 
very thing to be avoided, for it is then discharged at the 
bottom of the bar into the joint with the plate, and hastens 
decay in one of the very weakest points in the frame. I now 
use entirely a perfectly plain sash-bar, which is ‘“‘run’’ from 
white pine at the home mill. Its form is shown in Fig. 18 
(page 35). For ordinary roofs, and glass not more than 12 
inches wide, these bars may be 1x 1% or 1% x 13% inches in 
body measure. The illustration shows a cross-section of a 
heavy bar, at one-half natural size. In lots of 1,000 lineal 
feet, this bar costs us the price of the lumber plus $4 for 
“running.’’ If the grooves were added, the cost of “‘run- 
ning ’’ would be about $6. In large quantities, these prices 
could be much reduced. In very wide roofs of little slope, 
and especially when very large glass (18 to 20 inches wide ) 
is used, a bar 2x3 inches is safest and best. Such bars will 
hold a man’s weight. If the house is properly glazed, 
there will be no ‘‘drip’’ of consequence. 
The plate.—Perhaps the shortest lived part of the frame 
of the ordinary glass house is the plate at the eaves. Much 
of the condensation upon the glass finds its way to the plate, 
and if the glass is butted, all the condensation strikes it 
which does not fall in ‘‘drip.’’ In the very wide shed roof or 
broken-roof houses, the front plate (upon the lower wall) 
receives nearly all the roof drainage, and this is the one, 
therefore, to be chiefly protected. The plate, therefore, 
soon decays unless the greatest care is taken to give it a 
bold slant, and to keep it well painted. Fig. 19 (page 36) 
shows an excellent plate, half-size, cut from a pine or cy- 
press stick. A plate with half the slope of the side A B will 
still hold the water in globules and miniature pools, partic- 
ularly after the paint has begun to blister. In order to 
prevent the water from following back on the plate and 
keeping the wall wet, a groove like that at a, a, in Figs. 
20 and 25 (pages 37 and 39), is useful. A similar one on 
the outside of the plate will keep the rain from following 
down the wall. If the drip from the inner edge of the plate 
