THE CONSTRUCTION OF PLANT HOUSES. 81 



dwelling or in the adjoining grounds, the selection of an appro- 

 priate plan is of the first importance. For such purposes particular 

 attention must be given to the style, form, and ornamentation, to 

 make it in keeping with its surroundings. This can be done only 

 by the employment of some person of skill and experience in this 

 special branch of architecture. When such an attachment is to be 

 made to a new dwelling house, the architect of the latter should 

 be consulted, but for ordinary detached buildings this is not 

 necessary. An ordinary architect has little or no experience in 

 such work, and while he may make a design in harmony with the 

 architecture of the building with which it is connected, it would be 

 a rare exception should the height and pitch of the glass be 

 properly arranged to admit the sunlight to the best advantage, the 

 ventilation proportioned and located to do its work effectively and 

 without injury to the plants, or, what is of quite as great impor- 

 tance, should the design be made so that it can be executed by any 

 known method of construction in a workmanlike manner. 



To determine the size of the greenhouse to be built no rule can 

 be given, as this can only be determined by the taste and require- 

 ments of each family. When these are known it is a simple 

 matter to decide on the proper size. A rule frequently adopted, 

 and which has some advantages, is to make the glass of such 

 extent that the same help employed in the kitchen garden and on 

 the lawn in the summer shall be kept employed in the winter 

 months. It is better to adopt a size that proves too small than to 

 build larger than is required. When necessary, additions to an 

 ordinary greenhouse can be readily made. What can be worse 

 than a larger house than is required, only partially filled with 

 plants, or the space occupied with worthless trash, as is frequently 

 the case? A smaller house containing only choice specimens, well 

 kept, will cost the owner much less, and continue a source of 

 satisfaction and pleasure to both the owner and gardener. The 

 form of house which should be selected depends greatly on the 

 kind of plants to be grown and the location. For roses, mid- 

 winter flowering, forcing, and early vineries, what is known as the 

 three-quarter-span, having the ridge running about east and west, 

 with the long slope to the south, is generally approved. For most 

 other purposes the full span house, the ridge running north and 

 south, is generally used. The ridge and furrow style, being a 

 series of full span houses united by means of wide, open gutters 

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