674 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



Sept. 15. 



me another of those thrills I have tried to 

 describe. And this view impressed me the 

 more because it indicated at a glance that man 

 had actually triumphed over the constant 

 effort of the' el-nu-n s to tear down and de- 



dreer's gardening under glass. 

 Ever since I have been engaged in garden- 

 ing—I might almost say ever since I have 

 been engaged in business— I have had at dif- 

 ferent times a longing to see a whole acre — a 

 whole square acre, if you choose — entirely 

 covered with glass, so one could go about and 

 feel that he had elbow room and still be pro- 

 tected from vnntvy blasts. This longing was 

 for the first time gratified when I caught a 

 view of Dreer's immense establishment. 



The group of buildings form a square, or 

 pretty nearlv so. The shape of the roof is 

 shown in the cut. Every thing is glass, up 

 above the frost-proof wall, wliich is perhaps 3 

 feet high. The ventilators are along the ndge. 



Cut No. 2 gives you a view of the interior. 

 The gutters are supported by a U-shaped iron 

 frame that looks hke a door^vay. See cut. 



You ^\all notice from the engraving that 

 these U-shaped doorways are arranged so as 

 to assist in supporting the beds. Said beds 

 are all made of iron, and supported by iron 

 posts. The corners of the beds are rounded, 

 as you notice, for strength, beauty, and to 

 avoid bumping against the sharp angle. The 

 bottom of the beds is slate. In fact, there is 

 nothing alDout this building to catch fire and 

 burn up, and no insurance is carried on the 

 plant. The framework is of metal pipes, as 

 you will notice. The.se pipes are filled with 

 water, and a hose can be attached at any con- 

 venient point, thus giving water in abundance 

 without anv special piping for it. The heat- 

 ing-apparatus is shown beneath the beds, and 

 the capacitv is sufficient to protect perfectly 

 the expensive contents of one of these green- 

 houses. I said to our guide : 



"My good friend, can you tell me in round 

 numbers about what it costs to inclose a square 

 acre as we see it done here ? " 



"Well, we have five houses just hke this, 

 each one inclosing an acre; and I believe they 

 estimate the expense of each one at just about 

 $25,000." ^ . 



"Well, that is about what I expected it 

 would be ; and, if I am not mistaken, the 

 beautiful plants that have entirely filled and 

 occupied every foot beneath this glass are 

 worth almost as much more." 



"Just about twice as much, Mr. Root. 

 These rare and costly palms and other high- 

 priced plants are worth from two to five dol- 

 lars each." 



Dear friends, it is impossible for me to un- 

 dertake to describe the beauty of this exotic 

 garden under glass. The mechanical arrange- 

 ments and construction of the building are 

 perfect, and the plants were each and every 

 one models of thrift and beauty. I did not 

 before realize that there was such a structure 

 or such an arrav of beautiful plants anywhere 

 on the face of the earth. The sight of it gave 



stroy. No wonder our good friend Dreer wasj 

 able to write that little book that has prove ' 

 so taking during the past 3'ear — "Vegetable 

 Under Gla.ss." Now, it is one thing to build 

 such a structure, and it is another thing to ge' 



