CONSTRUCTING CARNATION HOUSES. 87 



Amounts of surface necessary to heat a given amount of ^lass be- 

 ing figured on the basis that the house is well built, t^ight, and 

 moderatel}^ protected from the prevailing winds. Under these 

 circumstances, it will be found fairly accurate. 



The ideal glass house for growing carnations for commercial 

 purposes has not yet been built. Growing carnations under glass 

 through the summer and the removal of them from the field to 

 the benches so much earlier than formerly and long before the 

 hot season, in this latitude, being past, makes the old style green- 

 house ill adapted to the changed system of cultivation. They 

 confine suffocating hot air, which natural forces would rapidly 

 equalize with outdoor conditions if given a chance in their 

 construction. Under bench, and side ventilation amounts to 

 but little in a tier of a dozen houses. Front and rear access of air 

 is not esteemed as it should be, and at best is insufficient in long 

 houses. The air must be kept in rapid motion, with the adjuncts 

 of moisture and shade, to maintain a healthy temperature for 

 carnations. I know of a grower that takes out a row of glass 

 along the heel of the rafters during summer with noticeable bene- 

 fit to his plants. 



There is a field open for cheap and practical improvements in 

 greenhouse structures in adapting them the better for growing 

 carnations under glass in either summer or winter weather. 



The Dale Estate greenhouses at Brampton, Ontario, are 840 

 feet long and 8 in number. They are supported by a trussed 

 roof, contain tile beds raised 16 inches from the ground The 

 Massachusetts experimental station, after conclusive trials, says 

 that all plants make better growth with the heating pipes under the 

 benches. The under bench system of heating consumes less fuel. 

 Water leaving the boilers, at 120 degrees Fahr., will maintain a 

 temperature in the same house. 6 degrees higher, with the pipes 

 under the benches, as against the overhead system of heating. 



