310 



The Canadian Horticulturist. 



A MECHANIC'S GREENHOUSE. 



EIN(] a mechanic with a very moderate income, but desiring more 

 'tm^j'y\ lowers than mv slender means would allow me to buy, I determined 

 "^^^^C- to huild a small greenhouse, believing that I could grow not only my 

 own flowers but enough more to help pay for the f>xpense of building 

 such a house. The house is a three-quarter span, 24 feet long and 

 1 1 feet wide, extending east and west. It has a shed on the west 

 ^ end. The south wall is 4 teet high; the north wall 6 feet. The roof 



is made of sashes, the long span 7 feet, the short span 4}^ feet. I used lo-inch 

 glass, and there are three rows of glass in tne sashes, as I found that wider sash, 

 7 feet long, would be too heavy to handle. I am a renter, and the greenhouse 

 must necessarily be a movable one. The nouse is heated with a common brick 



lurnace, built under the west end 

 of the south bench, with the 

 door opening in the shed. Five 

 or six feet of the flue, next the 

 furnace, is made of brick ; the 

 remainder is made of 6-inch 

 sewer pipe. The upward turn 

 of the flue, at the eastern end of 

 the greenhouse, is made with a 

 T pipe (see A in illustration). 

 By means of a swab thrust in at 

 B, I can soon clean the flue. 

 The south bench is built 2 inches 

 back from the wall to allow the 

 warm air to strike the glass at 

 the lowest point and thus keep the frost off" all the way down. I built most of 

 the house myself, and do not think it cost more than $25 or $30. A bushel of 

 coal will heat this house for 24 hours. 



I can grow many kinds of plants, and every year I sell more than enough 

 to pay for all the expense of running the house. On very warm days, while I am 

 away at work, my wife ventilates the building. I try to do all the watering before 

 I go to work, or after I come home. The work required to keep the house in 

 order is but a pleasant way of spending sonic of my leisure moments, and the 

 little greenhouse gives much i)leasure to my family and friends.— A Mechanic 

 in American Gardening. 



Fig. 81.— a Mechanic's Gbeeshocse. 



