EVOLUTION IN GREENHOUSE BUILDING. 



135 



Evolution in Greenhouse Building. 



From "The American Flourist," December 14, 1895. 



One of the finest examples of modern commercial greenhouse 

 architecture is to be seen at Henry A. Dreer's establishment at 

 Riverton, N. J. An acre of ground has just been covered with 

 nine houses 150x28. These are not separate houses but are 

 arranged side by side without dividing walls, the whole being 

 enclosed on three sides by glass and galvanized iron and con- 

 necting at one end by a corridor house 250x28. 



The height of the ridge poles is 14£ feet and the gutters are 

 Q} feet from the ground, supported on 3x2£ inch T iron arches; 

 these rest on stone foundations and are set eight feet apart. 

 The width of the arch span is 30 inches and this space under 

 each gutter, ordinarily taken up by the wall, is utilized for a 

 walk. Two other aisles run parallel with the gutter walk in 

 each house; these are but 24 inches wide and divide the table 

 spaces into uniform sections of seven feet in width, making 

 three tables 150x7 in each house or section. There isn't a 

 single foot of dead room in the whole range, every table has a 

 free circulation of air and plants can be reached by the hose 

 from all sides. 



The sash bars rest on a 5-inch board that is fitted to the edge 

 of the gutter, the bottom edge of the bars is cut out and let 

 down so they are below the top of the board; they do not fit 





A General View Across the Sections. 



close up, there being a short space left so that the drip from 

 condensation falls off and does not reach the gutter plate. A 

 new gutter was recently fitted in a house 10 years old that had 

 been constructed in this manner and the bars were all perfectly 

 sound. 



The sides and one end of the house are sheeted with boards, 

 then waterproof paper, and outside over all is a covering of 

 corrugated galvanized iron. This wall is about three feet high 

 and from this to the gutter the balance is glass. The ventilating 

 is done by the Evans system. 



The heating arrangements are a feature in themselves. There 

 are four 45 horse power boilers of the return tubular pattern. 

 As the system is hot water under pressure the steam dome has 

 been removed from the boilers and the steam space in the 

 boilers entirely filled with 4-inch tubes. The fire first passes 

 underneath the boiler, then back through the lower section of 

 tubes, which are divided from the upper tiers by a firebrick 

 partition built at the chimney end of the boiler, and returning 

 through the upper section passes into the smoke flue and to the 

 stack. This plan has been found to work well and seems to be 

 economical. Each boiler is connected by a separate flue to the 

 stack and can be run independently of the others. This plant 



can be connected with that of the old houses in case of an 

 emergency. 



The pressure is obtained from an open tank elevated 20 feet, 

 giving 10 pounds pressure. A 6-inch flow from top of each 

 boiler empties into a 12-inch header from either end of which 

 an 8-inch main carries the water; this gradually reduces to a 6 

 and then to a 5-inch main as each section is supplied. The 

 mains are carried to the end of the house farthest from the 

 boiler and the water returns through smaller pipes from mani- 

 folds to the return mains at the other end with a fall of ten 

 inches and thence to the boiler. All the pipes are underneath 

 the tables resting on pipe supports screwed into the table legs. 



The boiler pit occupies about 30 feet of one end of the large 

 sections about the middle of the range. Mr. Eisele believes in 

 giving this good space to the boilers instead of hiding them 

 away in a dark cellar. The dampers are controlled by chains, 

 but do not work automatically. The coal bins are conveniently 

 located so that the coal can be dumped in from a cart, and a 

 separate bin is provided for ashes. Buckwheat coal is used, as 

 this size is considered the most economical. There are seven- 

 teen rows of 2-inch pipe in each section, or what would make 

 f straightened out. The stack is square, 42 

 inches in diameter in the clear, with 

 walls 18 inches in thickness. 



A corridor house extends across the 

 ends of the sections, a door opening 

 from each into it. This connecting 

 passage is a large greenhouse in itself, 

 being 25 feet wide, 14J feet high and 

 252 feet long; it is filled with azaleas 

 and kept cool. 



From this there is also another cor- 

 ridor house connecting an older range 

 of fern houses and making at the 

 same time a covered passageway be- 

 tween the office and the new addition. 

 It is not now necessary to step out of 

 doors in going from one house to 

 another over the entire place, as all 

 the ranges are joined together by 

 sheds or corridor houses. 



The lumber used is every stick 

 clear cypress, the glass is first quality 

 double thick, size 12x16, lapped and 

 bedded; 93,000 Van Reyper glazing 

 points were used in setting the glass. 

 The whole woodwork is coated with 

 good white lead. 



The erection of this extension was 



personally superintended by Mr. J. 



D. Eisele and was almost wholly 



completed by the mechanical force of the place. The plans 



both of construction and heating were all drawn by Mr. 



Eisele and show him to be a first-class horticultural architect. 



The ridge is supported on lj-inch iron pipe, and before this 



is put up a double V is slipped on, fitted with a set screw; 



lj-inch pipes lead from this to a purlin the same size which 



runs along about midway of the sash bars and to which each 



is attached by means of an inch strap iron, fastened with 



screws. A novel feature of this purlin is that it also serves 



as the water pipe and from it at intervals of 35 feet short pipes 



with spigots come down a convenient distance, to which hose 



is attached. 



The tables are of 1^-inch iron pipe legs with 2J-inch angle 

 iron edges rounded on the corners and 2£xlJ inch angle iron 

 supports across the bottom on which rest the 12x24 inch slates, 

 some f to £ inches thick. 



The gutters between each section are 10 inches in the clear 

 and covered to the depth of half an inch with asphaltum; this 

 is melted to the consistency of tar and poured in the gutter, it 

 soon sets and makes a most durable and tight job, very much 

 better than tin or zinc, which gather water from condensation 

 underneath and soon rot out the woodwork. 



