22 



The Weekly Florists' Review* 



May y, 1912. 



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GREENHOUSE 

 ^^^^ CONSTRUCTION 



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PROGRESS OF FIFTY YEARS 



The Earliest Houses. 



It is ;i loiij^ st('[) troiii llic iiiiiihci' 

 ■-(iiiif m-ci'iilioiisc of lilty yoars :ii;o to 

 I lio iiHKiciii, cobwi'bby stnu'tiuc of to- 

 ■ !:iy. 'I'lic oaily ^ivenliouscs \\t'io gen- 

 ('[■ally built aj;aiiist a liiyii wall, llie 

 wall bciii^ on the north sido. This 

 \\as (luitf a laclor in su|)i)lyiii<;: heat 

 'liiiiii<^ the ni>;ht. "\'ou know how a 

 |ii(H'o of niasoniy will absorb hoat when 

 .xposeil to the waiinlh ol' the snn, and 

 how warm it I't'cls i'or a lonjx tini(> after 

 the sun has ceased to shine upon it. 

 So these hij^h walls absorbed liie iieat 

 and ^ave it up lo the jjreenhouse dur 

 m^ the iii<;iit. in those days the only 

 method of lieatin<jj was by means of 

 stONcs, or a lonjj line. (Mther ot jnpe 

 or niasoniy, (>xtendin^ tiie entire lent;th 

 ot' tile L;rec'nlu)iise, through which 

 hi'aled air ^cnerateii by ;i t'urnace or 

 llue heater was attempted to be car 

 lied. This method ot' healiiiL; was not 

 ^al islact Ol y lor the re;isoii that unless 

 the lilies were freipiently ^oiie o\(>r 

 and repaired Iliei(> was always the dan 

 L;er ot tlu'ir yixiiii; out. which iiK^uit 

 a sciious loss ol' |dants dama<:jed by 

 I lie ^ases and tumes whidi would es 

 ia]ie into the LjreeulicMise. Tliis arrauye- 

 Mieiit ot' heating was also uiisat ist'ae- 

 loiv i(M- tile reason that that portion 

 i»f the IliK' iie.iicvt the heater was nat 

 iiially tli(> liollesl' and llie farthest end 

 the coolest, which m;ide it impossible 

 to secure an e\eii temperature throuiih 

 nut the i^reeiihouse. I.ati'r tins trouble 

 w;is ox'erconii' to some estcMit i'V a hot 

 w.-iler heatiiiLi ^N^tem .a rr.aiiiic'd liy 

 placing; a pipe cdil inside the heatt'r 

 .■imi coniii'it iiil; ^ame li\' m;iiiis with 

 iieatiiiL:' coils plaee.l ;it the coldest end 

 Ol the ^^reenhoiise. finally the tiiie 

 heater w;is abandoned eiifii'tdy ami the 

 heatine' iici-omplislied alto^etluM' by a 

 hot w at el he.-it iiii; apparat us. 



\(iw as to till- construction of the 

 siiperstruct lire. :i liea\y w dod sill \\:is 

 placed on top ot' the t'ront wall. l[(>a\y 

 w (lod r.afteis were )i|aeed .alunit thic'e 

 teet ajiart, extiMidinc; I'rom the sill to 

 llie ridt;e, and s.ashes e|a/.ed with L;lass 

 only six iiiclh's wide wcri- plai'ed in 

 the roei'. The top saslu^s \ver(> ar 

 ranc;eii to sliiie down t'or \iMit ilat imi 

 and were operated with ;i svstem ot 

 ropes and pulleys. 



Progress Begins, 



The ciep-; iais(><l in lunises ol' this 

 typo w iMt' tar t'lom satisfactory, as 

 \ on can leadilx realize, as with thi> 

 amount oi wood in their coiistrnct ion 

 and the narrow L;Iass. the percentai::t> 

 of li<lht admitteil was small, to say 

 nothing of the cold air admitted 

 through imperl'ect construetion, Later 

 t'lill span lioiiS(>s were luiilt of similar 

 construction. 



^Ir. Lord, who was the foundtM- oi' 

 the Loril & I'lirnham ("o.. was a <:reat 



An oxiraci fniiii ,'ui illiislL:iU'il locliirc li.v Mon- 

 i.ifjiic C. Wrlfilit, of l.oni \- ItiiiiiliMiii tlo..' l)cfoit' 

 I he Fl(.risl.s' Cliil) (if riiil:iiicl|ilii:i, .May 7. 'I'lic 

 address \v;is over 7(KM) wunls, iir inure tinm four 

 la^cN (if 'Mil- K('\ ii'W, wliicli jirccluilcd imlilicatuin 

 111 I'liU. SdHii' >i\ly 'slides were used. 



lover of llowcrs and also a thorough 

 inoc'hanie. He had a small greenhouse 

 ill his y;ird which ho had built him- 

 self. ]Mr. Lord became dissjitisfiod with 

 tho results obtained and made up his 

 mind that if horticulture was to make 

 any jirogress it would be necessary to 

 greatly improve t h(> construction of the 

 greenhouse, so ho built himself a houS(! 

 which luoved to be so far ahead of 

 anything then known that his services 

 were soon in demand among the local 

 conuminity. It was not long before 

 the success attained in these new 

 houses spread beyond tlu^se narrow lim 



Montague C. Wright. 



the 



its ;iiiil the ^re('iihouse business, as a 

 business b\ itself, was launched. 



It h;is continued from that tiiii(> to 

 ^row until it has reached its present 

 proportions. Th(> outlook for its con- 

 tinued ex|iansi(Mi, inipro\-ement and 

 ^lability is bright indeed. 



The luiiicipK' ol' the construction 

 adopted and built bv Mr. Lord is the 

 same as is iiiii\'ers:illy used today, 

 namely, building the roof .as a per- 

 manent structure, with \ eiit ilat ing sashes 

 at tli(> !idg('. This method increased 

 the amount ot' light in the greenhoiiS(> 

 and also t'urnished a weatherproof con 

 stiuction. Mt^thods of sujijiorting the 

 roof ituMiibers are today numerous, but 

 lh(>y all are simply a nutans of making 

 the principle stated above stable and 

 lasting. In the early days there was 

 no glass on the sides. Walls of brick 

 or stone were built and the roof sprung 

 directly from the top of these walls. 



The inside level of the greenhouse 

 was generally on a lower level than 

 the (uitside grade. This was done to 



reduce the surfaces oxposetl to the out- 

 side air as much as possible. .Most of 

 the houses were narrow and the plant 

 benches wore so close to the glass that 

 it was impossible to grow jilants of 

 any size except on tho inner edge of 

 the side benches and in the center 

 benches. 



The next ste]) forward was to make 

 the roof curved instead of straight. 

 Tli(> roof was constructed with two 

 radii, the lower one being about eight 

 foot radius, the upper forty five feet. 

 This gave more room for the plants 

 on the outer sides of the side plant 

 beds. The glass was not bent, but 

 short lights were used and as the 

 radius was largo comjiared to tho 

 length of each light, the dilliculty was 

 solved the same as in building a curved 

 part to a brick house with ordinary 

 straight brick. 



With the introduction of hot water 

 and steam as a heating medium it be- 

 came jtossible to increase the width of 

 greenhouses, and houses twentj' I'cct 

 and twenty five feet in width became 

 common. This gave room for center 

 jilant benches. Xext came the intro- 

 duction of glass on the sides, increas 

 ing the height from the walk level to 

 the gutter line. By doing this it was 

 [lossible to build the roof without tho 

 curv(^ and still havi> room on the side 

 benches for medium sized plants. The 

 masonry wall was cut down to almost 

 grade and wooden ventilating [lanels 

 about two feet high placed on the sides 

 below the top of the plant bench. This 

 ill a measure is an ideal way of ven- 

 tilating a house where side vent ilatiof. 

 is rei]uired, as the cool air from out 

 side has to first i>ass oxer and around 

 tlie heating jiipes, which takes tln^ chil! 

 from the air. 



The Introduction of Iron. 



\t that time commercial houses were 

 built with locust posts, set about three 

 feet in the ground, four feet above 

 and boarded np to the eaves. As the 

 tendency towards wider houses in- 

 creased and wood decreased in quality, 

 it became necessary to find some mate 

 rial that would take the jdace of that 

 then in use. Iron and steel as a build- 

 ing medium was at that time attract- 

 ing attention and to this metal atten- 

 tion in the construction of greenhouses 

 was turned. Cast iron sills for cap- 

 ping the masonry walls were therefore 

 substituted for the three-piece wood 

 sill. Iron rafters were substituted in 

 (dace of the heavy wood ones. These 

 iron rafters are capped with wood 

 grooved to fit over the rafters and de- 

 signed to recei\e the glass. By cover- 

 ing this portion of the steel frame 

 with wood, all trouble from expansion 

 and pontnj^t-icm of metal is avoided. 

 Iron purHns \v>re also substituted in- 

 stead cff wooden ones. 



The )first iron frame greenhouses to 



