June :0, 1907. 



The Weekly Florists' Review. 



THE CARNATION HOUSE. 



Local Conditions Important. 



The construction of any greenhouse, 

 whether for carnations or for any other 

 kind of stock, depends on the conditions 

 existing at the place where the house is 

 to be erected. The ground site may be 

 level, or it may be on a hillside; the 

 climate may be warm, or it may be 

 cold; heavy snow-falls may be frequent, 

 or it is possible that only a fall of one 

 or two inches is experienced once or 

 twice a year; you may have frequent 

 wind storms or you may not — all of 

 these things and many others have a 

 direct bearing on the construction of 

 each and every greenhouse that is built. 

 So important are these influences that 

 it is necessary oftentimes to have two 

 or three types of houses for one kind 

 of stock in a single commercial range. 



For this reason it is not possible for 

 anybody to design any one greenhouse 

 and call it a model type, as there can be 

 no one style of construction perfectly 

 suited to all conditions, whether the 

 house is to be used for cut flowers or 

 for any other class of stock generally 

 grown in a commercial range. The fact 

 that so many good growers build dif- 

 ferent styles of houses for the same 

 crops is conclusive evidence that this is 

 true, and yet it is possible in most cases 

 to follow certain types of houses, as the 

 conditions of climate and ground site do 

 not vary extensively as between most 

 of the commercial ranges of important 

 size throughout that part of the country 

 situated north of the Mason and Dixon 

 line. 



The Eccentric Style of Construction. 



Then, again, we find a few florists 

 who seem to think that no type of bouse 

 in use is suited to their purposes and 

 each of these thinks that, in order to 

 get ahead of his competitor, he must 

 have something special and out of the 

 ordinary. These men generally build 

 houses that are in no way suited to the 

 class of stock they intend to grow and 

 afterwards blame the weather, or some- 



This paper was written and illustrated by 

 Philip L. McKee, of the John C. Monlnger Co., 

 Chicago. 



thing else, for the poor quality of stock 

 they produce. It is a fact that many 

 of the growers favor freak houses and 

 have odd ideas on construction, believ- 

 ing that this or that feature will help 

 them to control the temperature better 

 or give more ventilation, which benefits, 

 however, are rarely realized. 



This experimenting with construction 

 among the growers serves a valuable pur- 

 pose, however, for it gives the conserva- 

 tive grower a chance to see the fault of 

 this or that feature or of this and that 

 house, and puts him in position to build 

 a house that is safe and sane, although 

 of course it acts as an incentive for 

 some extraordinary man to produce still 

 another odd structure and call it a 

 model. 



It is the object of this modest article 

 on the carnation house to improve these 

 conditions and help every florist to use 

 good common sense in building, as far 

 as the superstructure of the greenhouse 

 is concerned. 



The Question of Cost. 



Probably no one thing has as much 

 to do with the building of a greenhouse 

 as the cost of it. Everyone wishes to 

 build for the least possible amount of 

 money consistent with first-class mate- 

 rial, and rightly so, too, but too often 

 valuable features are omitted on account 

 of a few dollars extra expense. If these 

 few dollars were invested it would mean 

 a saving on repairs, a difference in the 

 quality and amount of stock, also the 

 saving of many dollars' worth of 

 trouble and worry. It is always advis- 

 able to get the most for your money, 

 and be sure that you get all that you 

 pay for, but to save a few dollars do not 

 buy a greenhouse that will never be any 

 good, from the time you start with it 

 until you are obliged to tear it down 

 and rebuild. 



Material and 'Workmanship. 



One of the first things a florist should 

 look after when building a greenhouse, 

 after he has decided on the construction 

 of it, is the quality of lumber to be 

 used. It is a necessary requisite to a 

 good greenhouse that you have the right 

 kind of cypress, open air dried for two 

 years and then inspected before it is 



manufactured, by an expert who knows 

 all about cypress defects. Few florists 

 and not many local planing mill men are 

 familiar enough with cypress lumber to 

 know good cypress from poor when they 

 see it. This is of the utmost impor- 

 tance, and you should by all means get 

 your cypress from some manufacturer 

 you have confidence in and who you 

 know will give you the proper stock. A 

 little care in buying cypress will save 

 you many dollars in repair bills every 

 time. 



The next essential of the perfect house 

 is the workmanship on the material, 

 Avhich must be first-class in every way, 

 or you will have many hours of worry or 

 a deal of trouble in putting up the house, 

 to say nothing of the extra paint you 

 will need for the rough pieces and the 

 poor fit all the way through. When 

 putting up the house, however, if these 

 three things are made sure of, i. e., 

 proper construction, the right kind of 

 cypress, and honest workmanship, you 

 can depend on growing first-class stock, 

 or it is not the fault of the greenhouse. 



Of course there are mafty minor de- 

 tails to be looked after, such as pattern 

 of gutter, size of sashbars, size of glass, 

 kind of putty, paint, nails, etc., but these 

 will all be taken care of by the construc- 

 tion firm you buy of, if they know their 

 business. It is good policy to let the 

 manufacturer advise you regarding de- 

 tails. 



Plan for Range. 



To grow carnations successfully and 

 produce a class of stock that will net 

 the grower a sufficient profit, it is 

 necessary to have your houses properly 

 built and properly arranged. In one. 

 of the accompanying illustrations an 

 outline ground plan of a carnation 

 range is given, the dotted lines show- 

 ing additions from time to time and 

 the solid lines showing the first house 

 and boiler-shed. Almost everyone is 

 agreed that long houses are much bet- 

 ter than short ones and that wide 

 houses are more economical to heat 

 and to ventilate than the narrow ones; 

 therefore the sketch shows the first 

 house 500 feet long, but if the amount 

 you want to invest is not sufficient to 

 build a house of this size, you can re- 

 duce the length so that the cost of 

 material will come within the sum you 

 wish to spend. 



The boiler-house in the commercial 

 range should be erected on the north 

 side and all the houses are then built 

 to the south, connecting each house to 

 the other; thus forming what is known 

 as a range of connected houses. We 

 will assume that you are going to build 

 an up-to-date range and that you will 



A Typical Carnation Growing Establiihment as Built in the West. 



