29 



BULLETIN" OF 

 MASSACHUSETTS BOAED OF AGRICULTURE. 



GREENHOUSE CONSTRUCTION AND MANAGEMENT. 



By Prof. S. T. Matkaud, /orm<r/ypro/i»«»or of horticulture at the Jfaanachiisetts AgricuU 



tural College. 



The increased demand for vegetables out of their natural season 

 and cut flowers during the winter months has resulted in the build- 

 ing of glass structures for their growth in almost every city and 

 large town in New England. Vegetable growing under glass and 

 growing cut flowers are industries that can well be carried on in 

 connection with many other lines of agriculture and horticulture, 

 as they furnish employment during the winter months, when there 

 is little that can be profitably done out of doors, and in many 

 country towns we find examples of successful and profitable enter- 

 prises in growing lettuce, cucumbers, tomatoes, carnations, roses, 

 etc. 



At first thought it seems as if this success came to the young 

 men who undertake such enterprises without much effort, and at 

 the first trial, but when we investigate more fully we find many 

 failures before success crowned their efforts, and we learn that the 

 details of the business can only be mastered so as to insure suc- 

 cess in the same way as is required in any other kind of business, 

 i.e., by continued practice. Many failures are often made before 

 one succeeds, and yet any young man or woman with a love for 

 plants and flowers who will make a careful study of the work as 

 it is conducted by the successful greenhouse men, of whom there 

 are so many examples in Massachusetts, with a little capital and 

 a determination to succeed, will have no serious difficulty in mas- 

 tering the business in two or three years. Tbey will find, however, 

 that they will be able to learn something each year if they con- 

 tinue in the business, even for a life time. 



For success, some of the conditions that must be provided are 

 as follows : — 



Location. — Glass houses should be located where the greatest 

 amount of sunshine shall be obtained during the months of De- 



