The Weekly Florists' Review. 



June 20, 1907. 



build the first house 500 feet long. In 

 that case the boiler-house should be 

 built large enough to heat three times 

 the amount of glass in the first house, 

 80 that when you make the new addi- 

 tions marked No. 2 and No. 3, in the 

 ground plan, it will not be necessary to 

 make any addition to the boiler shed. 

 The heating pipes from the boiler-shed 

 should be led into the greenhouse at the 

 end and then distributed throughout the 

 bouse, so as to give you the desired tem- 

 perature, making arrangement at the end 

 next to the boiler-house so that you can 

 connect piping for the future addition 

 marked No. 2. It is also important that 

 you have the piping so arranged that 

 your mains will be large enough to carry 

 houses No. 3 and No. 4 when you get 

 ready to build them. Between houses 

 No. 1 and No. 2 and No. 3 and No. 4, 

 I would advise a cross walk five feet 

 wide running from the boiler-shed to 

 the south wall of the last house. You 

 could also arrange for other cross 

 walks in the houses and have entrances 

 in the side at any place convenient. 

 This much for the ground plan and 

 arrangement of houses, but let me say 

 here that this range should be heated 

 by steam and you should use the 

 vacuum system, or some other system 

 that is equally good. 



'Width of House. 



Much has been said about the proper 

 width for carnation houses and florists, 

 together with construction firms, have 

 gone to both extremes in the matter. 

 One large range built lately consisted 

 of houses ten feet wide, while another 

 grower of prominence erected one 150 

 feet wide. Certainly there must be a 

 difference between a house ten feet 

 wide and one 150 feet wide and I am 

 of the opinion that one is too narrow 

 and the other is too wide. 



After many years of close attention 

 to this one point and after long experi- 

 ence in designing greenhouses, we have 



proven every claim that we make for 

 it. The style of construction shown in 

 this elevation for a carnation house is 

 also coming into general use, not only 

 in the west but in the east and soutb 

 In building a carnation house this 

 width, twenty-seven feet from center to 

 center of posts, you get the maximum 

 amount of be_ch room, the best bench 

 arrangement, a greater amount of light, 

 construction that is up-to-date and at 

 the same time reasonable in cost (there 

 being several features that reduce the 

 cost of construction), together with ex- 

 cellent ventilation and economical heat- 

 ing. 



Advantages in Twenty-seven Feet. 

 The benching is ideal for growing 

 purposes, as there are four walks and 

 four benches in such a house, each walk 

 being about twenty inches wide and each 

 bench five feet wide, making a total of 

 twenty feet of bench room to every 

 house. This bench arrangement can 

 only be effected in connected houses, as 

 the north bench in each house sits di- 

 rectly against the posts in the dividing 

 wall. The walls being built with pipe 

 posts set in concrete (using post blodc- 

 ing and blocking clamps to attach 

 sheathing), together with the side sash, 

 and bars on the roof being spaced for 

 16-inch glass, makes the house light in 

 every nook and corner. The gutters should 

 be twelve inches wide over all and the 

 amount of shade they would cast would 

 not affect either the quality or the quan- 

 tity of stock produced. 



The size of glass to be used should 

 be either 16-inch or 18-inch. Notwith- 

 standing that spacing sashbars twenty- 

 four inches apart has been recommended 

 as advisable, I would suggest that 

 eighteen inches between the bars be the 

 limit. You get plenty of light and the 

 breakage is not as great, for the quality 

 of glass generally used is not strong 

 enough to withstand hail storms and 

 snow pressure if laid twenty-four inches 

 between the bars. 



Grotsnd Plan for Modem Range of CarnaHon Houses. 



come to the belief that a house twenty- 

 seven feet wide from center to center 

 of posts, as shown in the larger illus- 

 tration, is the ideal width for carna- 

 tions or roses. This particular width 

 of house is being adopted by most of 

 the growers throughout the west, both 

 large and small, and it has in each case 



For this width of house only two lines 

 of purlins are required, and with the 

 wire truss your house is properly braced, 

 making it strictly up-to-date in construc- 

 tion. 



Slope and Ventilation. 



It has also been found in making the 



house slightly uneven span, using bars 

 fourteen and sixteen feet, with the 

 shorter bar to the south, that you get 

 more and better light than with a house 

 that is strictly even span. The sashbars 

 being of this length reduces the cost of - 

 construction, for if the house were made 

 even-span you would require two 16-foot 

 bars to make a house twenty-seven feet 

 wide — this means a saving of two feet 

 on each of half the total number of 

 sashbars. 



The ventilation is a matter of great 

 importance in a carnation house and you 

 should have it arranged so that you can 

 easily and quickly control the tempera- 

 ture at any time. The outside wall 

 should have movable sash, as shown in 

 the illustration, and these should be con> 

 tinuous the entire length of the house, 

 except at the point on the north wall 

 where your boUer-shed overlaps the 

 greenhouse. The roof ventilators should 

 be continuous on both sides of the ridge, 

 and two separate lifting devices should 

 be used, so that either one or both sides 

 can be operated as desired. This ar- 

 rangement of ventilators will enable you 

 to keep the desired temperature, all the 

 time and, while it is somewhat expen- 

 sive, I believe that the difference in cost 

 is more than made up by the results 

 you get with your stock. 



The walls should be seven feet high, 

 which, with a height of six feet nine 

 inches from the gutter sills to the ridge, 

 gives you a total height of thirteen feet 

 nine inches from the grade line to the 

 ridge. "With this height you have a 

 large volume of air in the greenhouse, 

 which though not as large as in some of 

 the wider houses, is plenty large enough, 

 for after it is once heated you will have 

 no trouble in keeping it that way or 

 keeping an even temperature throughout 

 the house. 



In speaking pf wide houses, some of 

 the growers have overlooked the fact 

 that the length has much to do with the 

 volume of air in a greenhouse and the 

 control of temperature; in fact, it has 

 more to do with it than the width. The 

 air in a greenhouse fifty feet wide and 

 fifty feet long is very easily cooled and 

 is subject to quick changes, just as much 

 or more so than a house fourteen feet 

 wide and 200 feet long. If you build 

 your houses 500 feet long and twenty- 

 seven feet wide, the temperature will at 

 no time vary over 5 degrees, and then 

 only at the extreme ends, while in very 

 wide houses that are only 100 or 200 

 feet long the temperature will at times 

 vary much jnore, so you can see that 

 wideness has little to do with the volume 

 of air and the changes in temperature if 

 you haven't a long house. 



Summary. 



In summing up as to the best carna- 

 tion house, I would suggest a plant as 

 follows: Width of house, twenty-seven 

 feet; length of first house, 500 feet, or 

 as near that length as you can afford to 

 put up, with boiler-room located on the 

 north and situated as shown on the 

 ground plan. Steam heat, vacuum sys- 

 tem, continuous movable sash in outside 

 walls and continuous ventilation for the 

 roof, hinged at the header and placed on 

 both sides of the ridge. Use 16x18 inch 

 glass, laid either way. Pipe post walls, 

 with gutter on each wall, and have four 

 5-foot benches and four walks. Two 

 lines of supports and sashbars fourteen 

 and sixteen feet long, with the shorter 

 bar on the south slope. 



I believe that a house or range built 



