GREENHOUSE CONSTRUCTION AND HEATING 17 



or causing great fluctuations in temperature. On the 

 other hand, great height increases the cost of construc- 

 tion, and renders more difficult painting and repairing. 



Materials. Efficiency and durability should be the 

 chief aims in the construction of greenhouses, and these 

 can only be attained by the use of the best materials. It 

 is false economy to buy cheap lumber, poor pipe, inferior 

 glass or low-grade materials of any kind. In bench con- 

 struction, however, pecky or worm-eaten cypress, because 

 of its relatively low cost, may be employed to advantage. 



Fig. 4. Boiler room and packing house of a ten-acre range near Toledo, Ohio. 



Arrangement of houses. Houses should be arranged 

 with special reference to the boiler room and the work- 

 room. The boilers should always be centrally located. 

 This is especially important if the gravity system of hot 

 water heating is used. A centrally located packing shed 

 or workroom is equally important. Fig. 4 shows a very 

 satisfactory arrangement. The trolley car is receiving a 

 shipment of cucumbers at the entrance to the packing 

 room. Coal is brought by trolley to the boilers at the 

 other end of this building, and manure to the large ven- 

 tilators along the sides of the houses. An office adjoins 

 the packing room, and the pumps that supply the water 



