370 
[December, 
AMERICAN 
Green-Houses for the People—No. III. 
( Continued, from pages 308, 340.) 
AN INDEPENDENT GREEN-IIOUSE. 
The hyper-critical few who think these arti¬ 
cles are not quite advanced enough, will please 
remember that we are only writing the A B C’s; 
as intimated in the caption, we are trying to 
teach the masses who have hitherto not given 
attention to the subject, and whose circum¬ 
stances do not allow them to study or practice 
the building of extensive conservatories. Those 
who can spend their five hundreds or their 
thousands of dollars on artistic structures of the 
most perfect kind, will, of course, consult more 
extended works devoted entirely to the subject. 
The Lean-to Green-IIouse described last month, 
though very desirable 
and economical, is open 
to some objections. It 
is necessarily shaded a 
part of the day, and the 
plants grow one-sided 
and deformed, unless 
very frequently changed 
so as to bring every side p;„. y 
equally toward the 
strongest light. Therefore, where practicable, it 
is better to construct an Independent Green-House , 
that is, one apart from every other structure. 
The location may be in some part of the garden 
or lawn. It is desirable to have it near the 
dwelling house, and it may well be directly con¬ 
nected with the house by a covered walk, so as 
to be conveniently accessible to the members of 
the family and to visitors, in all weathers. There 
should be no trees on the East, South, or West 
sides to obstruct the sun-light. A belt of ever¬ 
greens near, but not close to the North side, will 
break off cold winds from that direction. 
An Independent or Span-Roof Green-IIouse 
may be described in brief, as two Lean-to green¬ 
houses placed together. Fig. 8 above illustrates 
a cheap, convenient form. The length is im¬ 
material, 30, 50, or 100 
feet, or more. The width 
may vary from 15 to 40 
feet, or more. For a 
small green house, a 
good proportion is, say 
15 feet wide, 25 feet 
long, 12 feet high at the 
ridge-pole, and 4£ feet 
high at the caves; or better still, if the ex¬ 
pense be not too great, 20 feet wide, 40 to 50 
feet long, 13 or 14 feet high at the ridge, and 
4i feet at the eaves. The roofs on both sides, and 
the gable ends being made of glass, the light is 
admitted on all sides, and it is not essential to 
have the low side wails of glass. These may be 
AGRICULT EE: 
of brick work, with occasional 
movable doors or traps to ad¬ 
mit air freely when desired in 
hot murky weather. Or there 
may be a parapet (base wall) 
say 2 feet high, with sashes 2 j 
feet high above. The latter 
form costs a little more, but pre¬ 
sents a more artistic, showy ap¬ 
pearance. In fig. 8 we have 
for convenience of illustration 
shown both kinds in the same 
side wall. Where the soil is 
dry, or may be made so by 
drainage, the floor may be 2 
feet below the surface, as this 
promotes humidity and warmth. 
This arrangement is shown in the farther end 
of Fig. 8. The architectural appearance, how¬ 
ever, is in favor of putting the whole above 
ground, as shown in the near part of fig. 8. 
As a rule, the house should run north and 
south, and the south end should be glass—except 
the base wall of 2 feet high. The liight should 
be not above 12 or 14 feet at most. Any un¬ 
necessary increase in bight greatly increases the 
amount of atmosphere to be tempered with heat 
and moisture, rendering it more unmanageable. 
The covering or roofs maybe made just as 
described for the Lean-to green-house, page 340 
—or the cold grapery, page 272—that is, the' 
sashes may be made in two parts as shown in 
the nearest three sections of the roof, Fig. 8; or 
full length, as in the other sections.^ The double 
sashes, and the cords and pulleys, are far more 
convenient, but the simple hooks and staples, 
that were described on page 272, will answer. 
The internal arrangement may be like Fig. 9, 
or 10, or 11. Fig. 9 is adapted to a small narrow 
house, with a table along each side, and a walk 
along the middle. The heating pipes or flues, 
I<] andi?,are explained further on. Fig. 10, a wider 
house, has tables along the sides, and a stage 
in the center. Fig. 11, has the side tables, and 
a central border for growing shrubs and plants 
directly in the soil instead of in pots. The 
plants are not well shown in Fig. 11. Taller 
shrubs should occupy the center, and low grow¬ 
ing shrubs or 
plants may fill 
up the sides. 
Running vines 
maybe trained 
along the edg-' 
es. The earth 
of the central 
border m a y 
be on a level 
with the walks, or may be raised a little, with 
boards or ornamental bricks along the sides. 
FURTHER ON HEATING GREEN-nOUSES. 
To apply the furnace and flue heating appa¬ 
ratus described last month, to a span roof green¬ 
house, a flue would need to run clear around 
to a chimney on the same end with the furnace. 
The best mode of heating is by means of 
an iron boiler and hot water pipes. These are 
made quite cheaply, the smallest sizes being sold 
as low as $27j, and from that upward. The cast 
iron pipes, 4 inches in diameter, 12 lbs. to the 
foot, are furnished at about 30 cents per foot. 
We have the estimates of manufacturers in this 
City, at $110 to $120 for the entire expense of 
putting in boiler, pipes, etc., for a small green¬ 
house, say 12 feet wide, 25 feet long, and 12 feet 
high. The boilers being but a fraction of the 
expense, it may be best to get a larger one than 
is actually required at first, as it will then an¬ 
swer for any addition made to the house and 
also be more economical of fuel than a small¬ 
er one. The iron pipes are 10 to 12 feet long 
and rim jointed. The joints are made water¬ 
tight by hammering in iron filings moistened 
with a little rusting material, as salt, or sal am¬ 
moniac, which causes them to cement together 
into a solid mass with-the iron pipes. 
One great advantage of hot water pipes is, 
that ,a uniform temperature can be maintained 
with great economy of fuel—very little heat 
being lost. Fig. 12, illustrates the principle of 
a good ho't-water apparatus. It is a double iron 
furnace or boiler, so constructed that the fire 
C\ C, C, is surrounded with water on all sides 
except at the bottom. The base, with the ash¬ 
pit A, may be of iron, a part of the furnace itself, 
or it may be of brick. It will be seen that 
all the water in the inner boiler IF, in the out- 
N 
Fig. 12.— HOT WATER APPARATUS FOR GIIEEN-HOUSES. 
er sections w, w , w, and in the pipes F, and R, and 
in the reservoir, T, is so connected as to form 
but one mass. The fire in C, rises all around 
the inner boiler IF, at the same time heating the 
water in the outside cylinder, w, w, w. The 
smoke escapes from the pip'e S. A pipe or other 
opening, P, connects the inner and outer boil¬ 
ers at the bottom. In the actual boilers the 
construction is a little different, but fig. 12 il¬ 
lustrates the principles of a good heater. 
The action of the apparatus (fig. 12) is as fol¬ 
lows : It is a well known fact that heat expands 
water, making it of lighter weight.* The warm 
er lighter particles rise up, and the colder heavy 
particles sink down to take their places—the 
least heat applied to the bottom of a vessel of 
water starting an upward current and a down¬ 
ward one. In fig. 12, the water in IF, to, w, w , is 
heated, and rising up passes along through the 
iron flow pipe F, and into the iron resorvoir, T, all 
the while giving off through the iron the heat it 
has brought up from the fire. The water in T, 
and in the return pipe, R, having become cooled 
off by the loss of its heat, returns to the bottom 
of the boiler or furnace, to take the place of the 
warmer water rising up. In this way a con¬ 
stant circulation is kept up, its rapidity depend¬ 
ing upon the degree of heat in the furnace. So 
sensitive is water to the influence of heat that a 
single handful of shavings in the boiler would 
* Water does not conduct heat through its mass. A 
fire built on the top of a tea kettle would boil away the 
upper water without so much as melting a piece of ice 
in the bottom. But when the fire is placed at the bottom, 
it heats the particles of water there, and they being 
lighter rise up, and the colder particles sink down, 
until all have gone the round and become heated. 
