WHAT first prompted me to put up 

 a house was the lonesome feel- 

 ing that came over me when 

 the frosts had destroyed the last 

 flower, and my garden was a mass of 

 withered leaves and stalks and only the 

 roots of the perennials were left of value 

 to me. It then seemed if I only had a 

 place where I could have taken some of 

 them in, or where I could continue to have 

 a few flowers to care for during the long 

 winter season it would be a source of much 

 pleasure and satisfaction, so I determined 

 to see what could be done in building a 

 greenhouse. One place that suggested 

 itself was the south wall of the dwelling 

 house. Here was a frontage of twenty- 

 five feet with two windows opening into 

 the dining room and a bit of blank wall 

 wide enough to admit of cutting a doorway 

 so as to give entrance to the greenhouse 

 from the dining room. In width there 

 was room enough for a house twelve feet 

 outside of wall between the dwelling house 

 and the flagstone walk leading from the 

 side entrance to kitchen porch, so a glass 

 house 25 x12 ft. seemed to be the extent 

 to which I could go. 



The location was ideal, full frontage 

 to the south with sunshine all day, as a 

 couple of maple trees standing about fifteen 

 feet out from the line of greenhouse would 

 be rid of their leaves during the time when 

 the house was in use and in summer the 

 shade would make the 

 greenhouse cool enough 

 for such things as I might 

 wish to keep under cover 

 during the hot weather. 

 The next considerations 

 were — what will it cost to 

 put up a glass house of 

 the size determined upon, 

 what will it cost to heat 

 it, and can it be con- 

 structed so as to not 

 cut off the light into the 

 dining room through the 

 two windows which would 

 be covered by the green- 

 house? I soon found a 

 firm of greenhouse build- 

 ers who seemed to know 

 just what I required and 

 the curved eave style of 

 construction with steel 

 frame insured getting an 



abundance of light so the dining room would 

 be amply provided for in that respect. 



There are many details of construction 

 that directly determine the cost of a house 

 and the builders will provide estimates 

 and plans to meet almost any outlay that 

 may be set as the limit by the intending 

 purchaser. And where the buyer has some 

 practical knowledge of, and a handy 

 knack of using, tools, mixing concrete, doing 

 a little painting, etc., much may be saved 

 to reduce the final cost of construction. 

 So far as the house frame, setting the 

 glass, and putting up the house proper is 

 concerned, let some builder of greenhouses 

 who has a reputation for satisfactory 

 work do all this at a fixed price, as it 

 will be hard for any one else to do as good* 

 a job for the same money, and any attempts 

 ending in a patched up appearing house 

 will be most unsatisfactory in results. 



An estimate with sketches for a leanto, 

 curved eave house, with one entrance from 

 the yard level at the east and near the 

 kitchen porch and another from the dining 

 room by a short flight of steps near the 

 other end was soon in my hands. The 

 estimate included everything erected in 

 place, on foundation walls to be provided 

 by the purchaser according to builder's 

 plans. Heating pipes and boiler to be 

 provided under a separate estimate and 

 the work done by local steam fitter. This 

 I accepted at the price of $650.00. 



By properly selecting the plants to grow together, you can have a constant succession of 

 well developed flowers all winter 



103 



The foundations were at once started, 

 first digging atrenchi8in. deep by 1 2 in .wide ; 

 the bottom was firm gravel, clay and sand, 

 which insured the walls against settling. 

 The trench was filled with concrete and 

 from the surface up the side and end walls 

 were carried to a height of four feet with 

 a thickness of 8 inches. As soon as the 

 walls had hardened the house material 

 arrived and a man to put it up. The cast 

 iron base plate with gutter combined was 

 bedded in cement mortar spread on the 

 top of the wall, and the steel ribs or rafters 

 attached with the upper ends set into and 

 anchored in the brick wall of the dwelling 

 house. Angle irons were attached between 

 the steel rafters and these carried the cy- 

 press ribs on which the glass was laid. 

 The glass was 16 x 18 in. long and at 

 the eaves or turn the glass was bent to 

 the proper curvature to give a smooth 

 continuous surface with no ledgeor obstruct- 

 ion to hold snow or ice. The foundation 

 and walls cost $60.00 including trenching. 



The heater is a hot water four section, 

 rated at about 700 square feet, grates to burn 

 hard coal. The pipes both for flow and 

 return are cast iron 4 inches outside dia- 

 meter. Under the bench there are three 

 lines of 4 in. pipe for flow and under these 

 three lines same size for return. Both 

 these triple lines connect to manifolds 

 from which the single fines go to and from 

 the heater. All joints were made with 

 lead wool caulked up tight 

 against a couple of turns 

 of twisted hemp. The 

 heater capacity is con- 

 siderably in excess of the 

 greenhouse requirements, 

 as I wished to serve the 

 double purpose of heating 

 the dining room and one 

 sleeping room above, 

 using the standard type 

 of radiators. 



I find the heating quite 

 easy to manage and but 

 a few moments morning, 

 noon, and night are re- 

 quired to make all adjust- 

 ments and replenish the 

 coal in the fire-box. As- 

 suming that a glasshouse 

 temperature of 60° Fair, 

 is about right, I find . 

 that in ordinary winter 



