114 
JFlow^r (Brower 
A Small Greenhouse. 
By Joe Coleman. 
t IV ritlen expressly for The Flower Grower. ] 
T HE editor of The Flower Grower 
invites an article on the construc- 
tion of a small greenhouse. The 
writer had a longing for a cheap but 
efficient house and set to work along 
such lines with the resulting building of 
a greenhouse 14x28 ft., without any 
frills, but that has been most satisfac- 
tory. That was four years ago and the 
cash outlay was about $140, including 
heater and all, by purchasing second- 
hand pipe and doing most of the work 
myself. Of course, now such a house 
would cost a half more. Not being an 
expert with the mitre box, had a car- 
penter one day and the plumber the 
same length of time. 
It is not so easy to make oneself un- 
derstood without illustrating such an 
article with drawings, but will do our 
best in simple language and start from 
the ground up. 
A solid wall would add expense, so 
after striking our levels — dug down at 
each corner a foot or such a matter 
and tamped in coarse gravel and then 
set up a building tile filling it with a 
one to four mixture of cement. Then 
proceeded to space upright tile at dis- 
tances of seven feet in like manner, 
using in all twelve to go around the 
foundation. The front of the house 
had the two tile placed the width of 
the doorway apart. The top level of 
the foundation stood six to eight in- 
ches above the ground and the open 
space between each tile was filled with 
a 2 x 8 inch plank set edgewise making 
a tight but very inexpensive wall. It 
is well to add here that the sides and 
ends of the building were built solid, 
using cheap lumber, then covering 
with three-ply tar felt roofing. First 
built the frame as for any other build- 
ing, using 2 x 4’s for the sill and bal- 
ance of the framing. Two cross braces 
under the V shaped roof and two iron 
posts together with the solid ends made 
the structure rigid and secure. The 
side walls were built \\ feet high and 
to the apex of the roof was 9 feet. 
You will thus see that only the en- 
tire roof space was glass. Such a 
house might be improved upon by add- 
ing glass in each end, letting in a little 
more sunlight, but the solid ends have 
served our purpose very well and the 
less glass area the less heat required 
to keep up the proper temperature 
within. 
Furnished our planing mill man with 
patterns for plates and rafters and 
these were turned out of cypress “the 
wood eternal.'’ (A greenhouse ma- 
terial company can supply rafters, etc.) 
Here’s where the carpenter got in his 
work with the mitre, and after the raf- 
ters were placed it was a short job to do 
the glazing. Glass 18 x 18 inches was 
used. On alternate sides and hinged 
from the peak of the roof were two 
ventilators, using for this purpose win- 
dow sash containing six 8 x 10 inch 
glass. By this time the building took 
on the appearance of a really green- 
house and we were mighty proud of 
our humble effort. The entrance was 
cut to fit an ordinary pine door. 
Did not care to attach the service 
room outside the building, so the pit 
was dug at the time the foundation 
was put in, directly inside the front 
entrance and walled up with strong 
boards. Such a pit may be built to 
suit one’s convenience, in our case it 
was quite small because natural gas 
was used in the heater. For coal the 
pit would have to be larger. The pit 
was partially covered with a strong 
plank platform as this platform was 
part of the alleyway upon entering 
the building. Space is precious so the 
benches were built wide, quite high 
up, to insure getting all the sunlight 
possible, leaving a space two feet wide 
entire length of the building. At the 
location of the pit the benches were 
narrowed to give access to the heater. 
The heating problem required a 
little study. A large size water-jacket 
stove was purchased and due to the 
pit being within the confines of the 
greenhouse the heat that generated 
therefrom was entirely conserved. 
Thus it was not necessary to wrap the 
heater with a non-insulating material. 
The expansion tank should be the 
highest point of the system so a new 
galvanized bucket came into use for 
this purpose. Now having placed the 
heater into position will attach an 
elbow onto the flow outlet and proceed 
with a two inch pipe placed perpen- 
dicular and running up to within two 
feet of the point of the roof. At the 
top of this pipe a T is placed. A round 
hole has been cut in the bottom of the 
improvised expansion tank, or galvan- 
ized bucket, as it were, and soldered to 
the top of the T. A two inch pipe 
running full length of the house is 
connected with the horizontal opening 
of the T. This pipe is given a slight 
fall to the opposite end of the house. 
An elbow is connected and a drop of 
two inch pipe perpendicular to a level 
one foot below the bottom of the 
benches. Then attach another T, and 
pipe therefrom running horizontally 
across the end of the building farthest 
from the heater. Attach five reducing 
T’s at even spaces under the benches 
(five under each bench) and use 5 one 
inch pipes giving them a slight fall for 
the return to the heater. 
We know this house as built to be 
somewhat crude but it has served our 
purpose well. Perhaps someone may 
get a few ideas from this short article 
to encourage the building of a green- 
house. If well blessed with this world’s 
goods go to the greenhouse manu- 
facturer, otherwise build a homely 
house as we have done. Nothing will 
afford so much downright pleasure and 
profit may be added as well. Nothing 
can be more cheery when twenty be- 
low outside than to bask in the sun- 
shine under glass. Should we be so 
fortunate as to reach the Autumn of 
November, 1918 
life what fleeting happy hours may be 
spent among the flowers and plants in 
our little greenhouse ! 
Flowers in War Time. 
Food will win the war, but food is not the 
goal. It is only ammunition. This war is for 
the souls of people and of peoples. And while 
we raise potatoes and cabbages to feed the 
flesh, the spirit must not be forced to wait 
till the second table. The soul should sit at 
meat along with the body. 
Shall we banish flowers from our gardens? 
Can we afford to cut music out of our war 
program ? Cabbages are of the rank and file 
of the fighting forces, but poppies are the reg- 
imental band. Flowers are for solace in the 
serious business of hoeing cabbages and kill- 
ing the worms thereon. Potatoes we need 
for food, but pansies we must have for 
thoughts. 
It would be to Germanize our land, if we 
cut gay color out of our war gardens, and left 
the gardener only the drub business of serv- 
ing tables. The wondrous structure of the 
cabbage may be worth long meditation ; but 
we do not meditate upon it. The rose 
compels meditation. Flowers on the mantel 
are incense offered to the soul of the house 
— the Home. If Germany had thoroughly 
subdued America a home would not be 
needed. A house and a cabbage patch would 
be sufficient. 
War is a sad business, but it needs no pro 
fessional landscape crepe-hangers. Dots and 
dashes, belts and splashes of color are needed 
in our landscape moie than ever. We owe a 
whole season of garden cheer to the eye of 
the passer by in our neighborhood. Dooryard 
color is Red Cross bounty. It is first aid to 
the warsick mind and the broken spirit. By 
taking thought the householder can have a 
succession of color growing about his house 
from spring frost to autumn frost, and this 
without subtracting at all from the time he 
should give to the food garden. The heait 
will find spare moments for flower culture. 
Keep the home gardens blooming. — Minnea- 
polis Journal. Mar. 1 7. 
The Popular Gladiolus. 
If a vote could be taken to determine the 
most popular summer flower in our gardens, 
the Gladiolus would probably stand first. 
Its cultural needs are so easily met and the 
returns from the expense incurred in getting 
a stock, and from the space occupied in the 
garden, are such as to make it without a 
doubt everybody’s flower. 
It is one of the plants that has been won- 
derfully transformed by the hybridist, and 
to-day types and varieties are so numerous 
and so bewitching in their appeal that few 
gardens where flowers are grown are with- 
out them. As cut flowers they are of in- 
creasing importance and by making a suit- 
able selection of varieties and planting in 
successive batches we may have a garden 
display from mid summer until frost. To 
my mind the loveliest of all are the Primu- 
linus hybrids, a wonderfully fascinating 
group wdth their distinct hooded flowers of 
soft yellow and orange shades flushed with 
delicate pink and rose. Gladiolus Primulinus 
first flowered in cultivation at Kew nearly 
thirty years ago I remember seeing it 
grown in pots and flowering in one of the 
greenhouses there, and the impression it left 
on my memory w f as that of a very beautiful 
but rather fragile looking flower. Its home 
is in Tropical Africa, where it is described 
as growing in one of the wettest spots near 
the Victoria Falls “'in a perpetual deluge,” 
from which presumably it gets the name 
Maid of-the Mist. To those men who saw 
its possibilities as a parent and have given 
us such choice and pleasing varieties we 
should be duly grateful. — Gardener’s Chron- 
icle. 
