THE CONSTRUCTION OF PLANT HOUSES. 85 



Second: Wood Frame Greenhouses. — The second st^^le as to 

 desirabilit}' and cost consists of an improved construction, wood 

 forniiug the principal part of the frame. The sills are made in 

 three sections to cap a brick wall, and are adjustalile to its 

 inequalities. The splices being made at different points in the 

 length, the sill is the same as though of but one piece its entire 

 length. The members of the sill are carefully pitched to turn off 

 water. The rafters are in two pieces, the long roof piece running 

 from ridgo to plate, and the upright between sill and plate. These 

 are joined at the plate or angle by means of a cast iron bracket 

 securely bolted ; a similar bracket is used at the ridge. The sash 

 bars are If by ^ inches, dripped to collect condensation. The 

 purlins which support the light sash bars are of angle iron fastened 

 by iron lugs, and bolted to each other through the wood rafters. 

 There is no place left in this construction where the wood used is 

 not protected in the most thorough manner against decay. The 

 house is very light, and at the same time, strong and durable. 

 This construction is only adapted for straight roofs. The form of 

 the house is simple, but very neat and graceful. Perhaps a larger 

 number of this style of house have been built than any other, and 

 as they present equally as good an appearance as a more expensive 

 construction, they are likely to remain a popular style of house. 



Third: Iron Frame Greenhouses. — We come now to the 

 third class, and by far the most important, as it embraces the best 

 forms of construction throughout. It consists of wrought iron 

 frame, cast iron sills, wrought iron benches with slate or brick 

 liottoms — in fact every part of the house which bears any strain, 

 or which if decayed would injure any other part, is of iron and 

 comparatively indestructible. Wood is used as a cap for the iron 

 work to prevent trouble caused by contraction and expansion, and 

 as a setting for the glass. 



The first range of glass where this construction was used was 

 erected in 1881 for the late Jay Gould. At a recent interview, 

 Mr. Mangold, Mr. Gould's superintendent, stated that so far as he 

 knew not a light of glass had been broken by any settlement or by 

 expansion or contraction during the twelve years since it was built, 

 and with the exception of painting, there has not lieen a dollar's 

 worth of repairs in that time. Before the erection of this house 

 and the adoption of this mode of construction, the nearest 



