THE FLORISTS* MANUAL. 



trench two feet deep and at its bottom 

 put in a 3-inch drain tile, and instead 

 of filling in the trench again with the 

 clay, as you would in draining a field, 

 fill up to the surface if possible with 

 stones, clinkers and coarse gravel. You 

 will find this money well spent. You 

 can always find some outlet for the 

 pipes at one end, running them all in- 

 to one cross drain and dropping into 

 the stoke hole if you have na other 

 system. 



Just a word here about houses that 

 are connected and form what are 

 known by builders as valleys. Some 

 may say they are bad for the snows. 

 Now, the writer certainly lives in a 

 district where the supply of "the beau- 

 tiful" is most bountiful, and we have 

 noticed year after year that we are no 

 more troubled with snow in the valleys 

 than we are on the outside roofs. It 

 seems to melt quicker in the valleys 

 and the gutter than it does on the out- 

 side plates, and runs and melts as 

 quickly off the glass unless it be on the 

 almost perpendicular face of the short 

 span to the south, which, of course, is 

 always clear. Ordinary snows (a fall 

 of five or six inches) don't bother any 

 houses on any kind of roof, but when 

 we get four feet in twenty-four hours, 

 as we did last December, or the visita- 

 tion to the eastern cities in February 

 last that upsets all calculations, and 

 it is a case of dig out, front, back and 

 middle. 



The worst condition is where one of 

 the avalanche-like falls have come 

 suddenly. The heat of the glass will 

 melt the snow some five or six inches 

 from the glass and then its power is 

 lost and there hangs a covering of 

 snow a foot deep. This we found as 

 troublesome on the outside slope of 

 the roofs as in the valleys, and with 

 our modern wooden gutters it is eas- 

 ily broken up, and when once dis- 

 turbed soon goes. 



I never could see any use in outside 

 gutters unless you wanted to save the 

 water from the roofs. If made of 

 metal they are continually breaking 

 down with the ice and had better be 

 made of wood. The ground surround- 

 ing houses should always be so graded 

 that surface water will flow off where 

 it will do no harm. If the water of 

 the gutters is saved be sure to tap 

 your gutter plate two feet from the 

 farther end, if the houses grade that 

 way. A conductor of any sort on the 

 end and outside of a house is a big 

 failure and is the winter long a fantas- 

 tic and ornamental miniature iceberg. 



Where the water is not used the 

 houses will of course drop two or three 

 inches from the shed to the farther 

 end. We let the gutter plate project 

 six inches beyond the house, and mak- 

 ing a saw groove an inch or two deep 

 in it insert a piece of tin a few inches 

 broad. This throws the water clear 

 of the house and provision is made by 

 the outside grade to carry it away 

 from the buildings. 



Under the head of painting we 

 meant to say a word about painting 

 the iron work. We have just had 



some experience with some l^-inch 

 pipe supporting the roof that ran 

 through the benches on which we have 

 frequently used coal ashes to stand 

 the plants on. They have only been 

 up six years. The pipes began to cor- 

 rode and scale off and this summer are 

 rusted clear through, not in holes, but 

 an inch or two of the pipes are clear 

 gone. We have often used coal ashes 

 on the floor and believe they should be 

 kept clear of all wrought iron pipes. 

 We also believe that all our iron sup- 

 ports, ventilating shafts, heating pipes 

 and all pipes of every description 

 should be well painted with white lead 

 and oil. 



As for any porousness of our pipes, 

 that is perfect nonsense. A friend re- 

 marked on seeing 2-inch heating pipes 

 painted that it would prevent radia- 

 tion. Nonsense; it will help it. A 

 smooth surface is always a better con- 

 ductor of heat than a rough one. Paint 

 all your pipes everywhere. It will 

 save them and it will help to give 

 lightness to the house, and light means 

 health and life. If painted in the sum- 

 mer time there will be no possible 

 odor from the lead, and the slight 

 fumes of the linseed oil are more a 

 benefit than otherwise. 



Gi eenhouses for Producing Flowers. 



I have at some length given the di- 

 rections for building, and the same 

 will apply precisely to houses that are 

 built to grow roses and carnations, 

 except the shape, size and aspect. The 

 object sought in these houses is to get 

 every possible ray of sunshine, and 

 besides direct sunshine, light; for 

 there are many days, yes, and weeks, 

 in the dead of winter in our northern 

 clime when we don't see the sun at 

 all. 



There are three styles of these 

 houses and all have their champions. 

 They are the long-span-to-the-south, 

 the equal or nearly equal span, and 

 the short-span-to-the-south. Twenty 

 years ago and less the long-span-to- 

 the-south house was considered by 

 many as the only house for winter 

 roses. Then came the very reverse of 

 that, the short-span-to-the-south, and 

 within seven or eight years many good 

 growers have gone back to the simple 

 equal span, and from results believe 

 that it is as good a house as any. 



All of these styles when built for 

 flower producing face to the south, or 

 what is still better, facing a few points 

 to the east of that. The ridge is run- 

 ning east and west, or a few points 

 north of east, and south of west. It 

 is obvious that only one style of these 

 three can have a range of glass at- 

 tached, and that is, of course, the 

 short-span-to-the-south. If attached 

 the equal span would shade the house 

 to the north of it, making one-fourth 

 at least of the north house useless, 

 and the long-span-to-the-south con- 

 nected would be still worse and out 

 of the question. 



So excepting the short-span-to-the- 

 south the other two styles are always 

 built with their walls some 18 to 20 



feet removed from another structure. 

 Where land is cheap, and most large 

 establishments are so situated, this is 

 no great consideration; and if it takes 

 more heat, but the results are suffi- 

 ciently better, that also is not an ob- 

 jection. The long-span-to-the-south 

 doubtless predominates throughout 

 the country, but that does not confirm 

 it as the best, because florists, like all 

 other classes, are great copyists, and 

 if one or two leaders said so the rest 

 would follow sheep-like, notwithstand- 

 ing the fact that millions of fine roses 

 have been produced for years in the 

 long-span-to-the-south houses. 



I see nothing about them in any re- 

 spect to warrant their being called 

 the best houses for the purpose. If 

 there is any merit, and there undoubt- 

 edly is, in the short-span-to-the-south, 

 then the others must be entirely 

 wrong. They are expensive to build, 

 awkward and costly to arrange the 

 benching in, more laborious to attend 

 to, and do not get the direct rays of 

 the sun to the same extent as do the 

 equal span or short-span-to-the-south. 



The front wall is usually 4 feet 6 

 inches (and 18 inches or 2 feet of it 

 glass), the back wall 8 feet, the back 

 or short rafter 8 feet and the long 

 south rafter 16 feet. These are the 

 dimensions for a house 19 feet wide; 

 if 22 feet wide the long rafter is 18 

 feet and the short one 9 feet. An up- 

 right l^-inch pipe supports them un- 

 der the ridge with a branch holding a 

 1-inch purlin a foot below the ventila- 

 tor headers, and another upright sup- 

 porting another 1-inch purlin is need- 

 ed half way between the plate and 

 ventilator purlin. The ventilators of 

 these houses are always on the south 

 side of the ridge and open at the 

 ridge; and as ventilation should be 

 afforded to the fullest extent, it should 

 be continuous and deep. 



It is thought necessary to raise the 

 benches so that the" plants should be 

 at about an equal distance from the 

 glass, and the benches are arranged in 

 a 19-foot house as follows: The south 

 bench 3 feet and path 18 inches or 2 

 feet. The middle bench 6 feet and the 

 back or north bench 3 feet. If the 

 house is 22 feet the front bench is 3 

 feet and' the back bench 3 feet and 

 two middle benches of 5 feet each, 

 with three paths, each path and bench 

 being raised a foot or so till the back 

 or north path is 4 feet from the 

 ground. If heated with hot water the 

 pipes are mostly under the benches. 

 If steam is used the flow is most likely 

 raised above the plants and the re- 

 turns under the bench. It is as well 

 to add, because it is the truth, that 

 these houses, while getting the sun's 

 rays in winter very obliquely, get it 

 broadside in the summer, making 

 them terribly hot houses in the sum- 

 mer months. 



The short-slope-to-the-south is also 

 built sometimes 19 feet wide and some- 

 times 22 feet. The walls are of equal 

 height, usually five feet. There is a 

 path against the north and south 

 walls and one dividing the two bench- 



