124 



THE FLORISTS MANUAL. 



the other two styles. When there is any 

 sun in our dreary winter you must get 

 the direct rays, for the face of the south 

 slope is about at right angles with the 

 rays of the sun in our shortest days. 

 They are most decidedly the coolest 

 houses in summer, which is a decided 

 advantage, and last they can be built 

 attached with gutter and walls only 

 separating them. 



The front or south bench being some 

 two feet from the wall, there is not 

 the slightest shade from the ridge of 

 the house on the south. The fact of 

 these houses being in a block, and the 

 roof of one largely breaking the force 

 of the wind to the north, is a great sav 

 ing of fuel. I can only say that some 

 of the best rose growers of the country, 

 having adopted this style of house seven 

 or -eight years ago, are highly satisfied 

 with them and are still building more, 

 and the quality of their product is evi 

 dence of their not being far wrong. 



The equal-span house is to me about 

 the ideal. It may take more heat, but 



when they are raised up a foot or so 

 on stout blocks, fastened down with wire 

 and left open till planting time, or in 

 some cases till there is danger of the 

 houses getting too cold. I am sure that 

 in carnation houses these ventilators to 

 be used only in hot weather are of great 

 use. 



Why a steep roof always makes a 

 lighter house than a flat roof is not 

 easy to explain, but it is so, and unmis 

 takably so. Many times have I com 

 pared the light in the three different 

 styles of houses on the same day and 

 the equal-span at an angle of about 45 

 degrees is much the lightest appearing 

 house, and I believe although the short - 

 span-to-the-south has many advantages, 

 particularly on the score of economy of 

 heat and space, that the equal-span, 

 using the same glass and bar, has the 

 most perfect diffusion of light and comes 

 nearer the ideal for producing high-class 

 flowers. 



A violet house should run north and 

 south. You get all the light you want 



And if you are a builder yourself, not 

 necessarily able to handle a jack plane, 

 but to boss the job, you can build first- 

 class houses at least fifty per cent 

 cheaper than the ironframe houses of 

 the horticultural builder, and a great 

 deal cheaper and better than the local 

 carpenter, glazier and steam-fitter. 



It will be asked why I don t say 

 what would be the cost per lineal foot 

 of a house about twenty feet wide. As 

 near as I could keep a record of the 

 last house I built, nineteen feet wide, 

 heated for carnations by hot water, 

 using double thick glass, the Challenge 

 ventilator, the best clear cypress lumber, 

 red cedar posts and wooden benches, it 

 cost about $10 per lineal foot. This was 

 a year ago before the high tariff had 

 had a chance to shed its beneficent bless 

 ings on the florists calling. 



Possibly at present prices of pipe and 

 glass the same houses could not be built 

 for less than $12 per lineal foot, but as 

 glass is principally made of sand and 

 fire and wind, with which we are well 



A Massachusetts Establishment Illustrating Many Styles of Construction. 



it gives the best distribution of light. 

 An equal-span of twenty-two feet should 

 always be removed from another 

 similar house twenty feet. The walls 

 should be five feet, with two feet six 

 inches of glass, a path against each wall, 

 and two more separating the benches, 

 and three benches each five feet wide. 

 This house would take a 14-foot bar, 

 and in addition to the main support in 

 the center would need a purlin on each 

 side. 



Ample ventilation should be supplied 

 on the south side of the ridge and open 

 ing at the ridge. Ventilation could be 

 put into the walls of this house, but 

 you would not use it for roses, and for 

 carnations, if shading is attended to, 

 I am convinced it is not necessary, as 

 carnations in our equal-span houses with 

 only top ventilation are often so vigor 

 ous and thriving at the end of August 

 that it seems a sacrifice to throw them 

 away. 



We have on these equal-span houses 

 some large ventilators on the north side 

 that are not worked by any apparatus, 

 and not used till settled warm weather, 



in the winter and you would get too 

 much sun in the early spring if the house 

 faced south. Under the head of violets 

 I will give you my idea of a violet house. 



In conclusion all I have said about 

 any of these houses, both for plants and 

 flowers, applies only to those that you 

 are going to build under your own 

 supervision. If you have no mechanical 

 genius at all, engage a horticultural 

 builder. Some men have the bump of 

 destruction and some of construction. 

 The writer wishes no greater pleasure in 

 this world than bossing the erection of 

 glass structures. Poor fare and short 

 hours in bed will do him then if he can 

 only squint over those pieces of wood 

 by which we get a line on the posts or 

 hangers for the pipes. 



There are now at least half a dozen 

 firms who will put you up most excel 

 lent commercial houses and make them 

 any shape or design you wish. What 

 I have tried to convey is the method by 

 which you can erect with the help of 

 one good carpenter and his tools sub 

 stantial, lasting houses that will grow 

 flowers and plants equal to the best. 



supplied, and there is iron enough in our 

 mountains to last the world 10,000 

 years, neither the folly of alleged states 

 manship nor the greed of corporations 

 can long keep those commodities up to 

 these artificial and preposterous prices. 



We trust lumber will not go up in 

 sympathy with the manufactured arti 

 cles. There are broad miles (and I 

 hope thousands of miles) yet in the 

 southern states of cypress, and its great 

 value seems only within this twenty 

 years to have become widely known. 



The Canadians use the wood of the 

 larch (tamarax) for benches, and a 

 most excellent wood it is for the pur 

 pose, possessing largely the good quali 

 ties of the cypress. They are both de 

 ciduous conifers. The tamarax is the 

 larch of our northern swamps, and the 

 southern cypress is a beautiful tree, 

 Taxodium distichum. 



In conclusion, no matter whether your 

 intended building is to be large or 

 small, send your ideas to one or more of 

 the several good firms and get their 

 figures. Your order will be executed to 

 your great satisfaction, every piece cut 



