144 BEAUTIFUL FLOWERS 



base, will be enough. The wall plates will form a part of the 

 ends and sides, which the dealer sends in sections. Practically 

 the whole of the house will be of wood and glass. It will pro- 

 bably be provided with two top ventilators, if a span-roof, one on 



each side. 



It is not desirable to buy a house smaller than ten feet by 

 eight. A smaller structure becomes too much of a box. A width 

 of eight feet in a span-roof house permits of two side stages each 

 three feet wide. This is making the most of the space available, 

 and gives quite a respectable area. But a somewhat larger house is 

 desirable, because it permits of a division into two compartments, 

 one of which (the side near the boiler) can have more piping than 

 the other, and so serve as a warm house, while its twin is kept 

 as a cool one. 



In view of the fact that things are being cut very fine to get 

 within the ten shillings per foot limit, it may be asked what a really 

 substantial, well-built house, with some pretensions to style about 

 it, would cost per foot run, including the heating. The reply 

 is, anything from 2 to 4 ; but the former rate would insure a 

 very good house. A lean-to that is, a house supported by a 

 wall might be expected to cost a little less than a span-roof, but 

 not, of course, if a wall has to be built to support it. 



In view of the great difference in the cost of plant-houses, it 

 behoves the purchaser to get estimates from two or three different 

 firms, and, having compared the amounts, to endeavour to compare 

 the classes of work done by the firms also. 



Fitting Houses. It may be taken as an axiom that a very lofty 

 house is not a good one in which to grow plants. Such a house 

 would be right enough if a high stage, built in tiers to correspond 

 with the pitch of the roof, were constructed to fit it. But high, tier 

 stages in lofty houses are not convenient for working, and are falling 

 out of use. Flat stages are much more manageable. They have the 

 disadvantage, in a house with a very sharp pitch, that the plants 



