CARNATION HOUSES 65 
extends east and west or north and south. Taking the year 
through, I have found that plants do as well in the one 
kind of house as in the other. Provision for ample ventila- 
tion at the top and bottom of both sides of the house is im- 
perative. For warmth in severe weather, and shade when 
needed in summer, it is an advantage to have some form of 
roller-blind shading affixed to the exterior of the roof. The 
glass should be of the best twenty-one ounce, and I favour 
panes 24 inches long and 15 inches broad. The wood- 
work should be as light as possible, where strength is re- 
quired employing round or T iron in place of heavy wood, 
thereby reducing these surfaces which unduly shade the 
plants in winter, Large growers prefer span-roof houses, 
28 to 30 feet wide and 16 to 18 feet high, of varying 
lengths, built upon brick walls 3 feet high, and having 2} 
to 3 feet continuous side ventilation, and side and central 
stages or benches. Any modification of this style of house 
may be adopted. A smaller and very useful house, without 
a central stage, is one 9 feet high at the ridge and 13 feet 
wide over the walls, which in this case should be 2% feet 
high, with the same provision for side ventilation as in the 
larger house. It is necessary to provide side stages (which 
may be easily converted into benches, as advised on page 84, 
if desired), each 50 inches wide, and a pathway 3 feet wide 
through the centre. For a house this size, four rows of 
4-inch hot-water piping at each side of the house is ample 
to maintain the necessary heat; and, as the pipes will be 
fixed below the stages or benches, it must be seen they 
do not come too close to them to cause excessive drying 
of the roots. 
