THE FLORISTS MANUAL. 



with their heavy woodwork, 8x10 glass, 

 and 4-inch cast iron pipe, we feel a 

 chill, especially if we own them. We 

 believe it would be almost impossible 

 to produce the roses and carnations of 

 today in the quantity and quality they 

 are, had not our flower growers the 

 modern houses of today. 



Houses for the private establishment 

 I shall not mention. They can be built 

 with all the ornamentation as well as 

 substantial and useful appointments that 

 the owner desires, and should be always 

 in keeping with the grounds and mansion 

 with which they are associated. I will 

 say this much: That whenever a range 

 of glass is to be erected, let it be a 

 costly and extensive range or but one 

 small conservatory, it is far cheaper 

 in the end and a hundred times more 

 satisfactory, to have them built by 

 horticultural builders, whose specialty it 

 is, and who have made a life study of 

 the business, constantly devising new 

 and better methods, employing expert 

 workmen, who know accurately .every 

 detail of the structure. 



attention. If of a mechanical turn with 

 experience, and you are sure you will 

 not neglect other things, then you can 

 save considerable by buying the material 

 and putting up the houses yourself. 



Shape and Aspect. 



Plant houses, i. e., houses for raising 

 palms, pandanus or ferns, or flowering 

 lilies and azaleas, or growing the bulk 

 of our bedding plants, in fact for any 

 purpose except for roses and carna 

 tions, can run north and south. A house 

 with its ridge running north and south 

 with a good size of glass will give you 

 all the light that these plants need, and 

 in the summer when too much sun is the 

 trouble they are not so hot. 



There is no doubt that houses that 

 are built communicating, or simply a 

 partition wall between them, are a 

 great saving in fuel, and in latitudes 

 where AVC get great snows, and often 

 weeks of zero weather, it is most ad 

 visable that blocks of houses be built 

 together with only two outside walls, 



for the same kind of plants, for instance 

 chrysanthemums, ferns, lilies, then gera 

 niums, or maybe all palms, then there 

 is no need of a partition wall, but un 

 less you are in a big way of business you 

 will find it much safer to have a parti 

 tion between them. You so often want 

 to keep one house a little warmer or 

 cooler than others, or in fumigating you 

 may find it very inconvenient to have to 

 fill the whole lot with smoke when there 

 were plants in some that you did not 

 want to smoke. 



Another style of house for general 

 plant growing that is, I think, more 

 economical to build and easier to work, 

 is one of twenty-two feet. This will 

 allow an 18-inch path against each wall, 

 three benches a little short of five feet 

 six inches each and two more paths 

 one foot six inches each. The heating 

 would be but a trifle more, the first cost 

 of glass and bars but a fraction, and 

 the walls and the gutters no more. In 

 these houses the heating pipes, whether 

 of steam or hot water, are against the 

 walls, away from the plants, where there 



Building a greenhouse or conserva 

 tory is as distinct a business from the 

 ordinary house building as is ship build 

 ing, and the local carpenter, glazier and 

 steam-fitter are the most unfit people 

 to employ. I have had local painters put 

 a piece of tin against the bar when 

 painting the roof, to keep the paint 

 off of the glass, thereby entirely 

 neglecting the one important place for 

 paint, the space between the glass and 

 wood occupied with putty. The local 

 steam-fitter is learning something about 

 steam, but his knowledge of hot water 

 circulation is yet awfully crude, and the 

 carpenter, who is perhaps capable of 

 building a winding staircase, is a failure 

 at greenhouse building unless you are 

 able to tell him &quot;just how you want 

 it. So the amateur or man of wealth 

 should always employ one of those firms 

 who make a business of glass structures. 



There are now many firms that make 

 a specialty of greenhouse and conserva 

 tory architecture and construction, sup 

 plying everything from the foundations 

 to benches, and not only the amateur, 

 but the commercial florist had better 

 let the contract to a reliable firm to 

 erect his houses. If he undertakes it 

 himself with his own help he is bound 

 to neglect many things that need close 



Modern Commercial Range of Connected Houses. 



providing you are sure you will not 

 want to change your business and con 

 vert them into rose or carnation houses; 

 for this purpose they would be very un 

 suitable. 



The conventional house of this kind 

 is usually twenty feet wide, with a 

 middle bench of six feet six inches, and 

 two side benches of three feet six inches 

 each, allowing two feet for each path 

 and keeping the benches away from 

 posts two or three inches on each side 

 to avoid any drip on the plants. When 

 ever I speak of the width of a house 

 as twenty or twenty-two feet, I always 

 mean the . dimensions to be from outside 

 to outside of posts if detached, or from 

 center to center of posts if attached. 

 For the general run of our plant houses 

 the top of the posts from outside grade 

 of ground is usually for these equal-span 

 houses four feet six inches, with the 

 plate on top of post and the bar about 

 eleven feet six inches; this gives you 

 nice headroom for the paths. 



The middle bench is used for tall 

 growing plants and the side benches for 

 the dwarfer ones. Often the space that 

 woiild be occupied by the bench is used 

 by standing the plants on the floor or 

 planting them out, as you do with smilax, 

 etc. If four or five houses are used 



is no danger of encouraging red spider. 

 Where the houses are built in this way 

 the posts should be five feet, so as to 

 give headroom in the outside paths. 

 The benches in these houses could be 

 any height to suit your plants. 



It is remarkable how much we are all 

 copyists and follow a leader. Some one 

 breaks away from the old style, has suc- 

 css with his plants, and then he is 

 copied. It is in place here to briefly re 

 view some of these changes. The first 

 houses we remember having charge of in 

 this country were of equal span. Then 

 came the long-span-to-the-south house 

 with a back wall of eight to ten feet. Ex 

 cellent roses and other flowers were and 

 still are grown in this style of house 

 because the man in charge is excellent. 

 These are expensive houses to build, 

 awkward to work, and cannot be built 

 very close together, as the rear wall of 

 the south house will shade the house to 

 the north. Next there was an entire 

 reversal and the long span was put on 

 the north, the south span being almost 

 perpendicular. These houses could be 

 built much nearer together, and pro 

 duced fine flowers, because there was a 

 fine grower around. Then there was a 

 reaction with many to the old equal- 

 span. Within five or six years there 



