30 
AMERICAN AGRICULTURIST. 
[January, 
Considerable attention is being attracted to 
the experiments of Mr. Chamberlain, who pro¬ 
poses to grow not only ornamental plants, but 
even fruitful vines and trees, in baskets filled 
with mqgs and a small quantity of artificial soil. 
The engraving above is an exact representation 
of a basket of growing grapes recently present¬ 
ed to the lady of the Presidential Mansion, at 
Washington. The basket is about 30 inches 
across at the top. At a meeting of the Brook¬ 
lyn Horticultural Society there was shown a 
peach tree in a 9-inch basket where it produced 
ten beautiful peaches; a grape vine with a doz¬ 
en well formed clusters of good flavored fruit; 
strawberries in full bearing, as luxuriant as if in 
the open air; ripe pineapples, etc. At Mr. 
Miller’s, 29 Broadway, may now be seen a vari¬ 
ety of ornamental plants, with pineapples, straw¬ 
berries, etc., all growing in baskets.—The main 
features of the process are: a plentiful supply 
of moss around and above the roots to retain 
moisture, and a comparatively small quantity of 
artificially prepared soil—consisting mainly, we 
believe, of powdered charcoal and ground bones. 
A patent has been taken out for portions of the 
process, which will somewhat interfere with its 
general introduction, though we presume Mr. 
C. will find it to his own interest to facilitate a 
wide adoption of this pleasing, if not practically 
useful mode of growing dwarf fruit trees, vines, 
and all kinds of ornamental plants. 
A Sixty Dollar Green-House. 
The . articles on “ Green-Houses for the 
People,” published in last volume, have awaken¬ 
ed a good deal of interest among many who 
have a taste for these structures, but who have 
hitherto supposed that the most limited green¬ 
house would cost $500 to $1000. We have 
many letters asking the lowest cost of the 
cheapest building that can be got up to answer 
the purpose. Well, just to demonstrate. that 
green-houses are within the reach of a large 
class, we are now putting one up, which will be, 
in outside dimensions: 22 feet long, 12 feet wide, 
9 feet high on one side, and 4 feet on the other, 
covered with 12 sashes, each 31 by 6 feet. The 
work is mainly done at odd spells by two men, 
for whom we have little else to do at this sea¬ 
son, so that their time is not reckoned. The 
outside expenses for materials, etc., we estimate 
at only about sixty dollars! We intended to give 
a full description and account of expenses, next 
month, but that will be too late for many in¬ 
quirers, who wish to get up something similar, 
during this leisure month of January. So here 
is a brief description. (Fig. 1 is a skeleton, 
to show the construction of the parts—the 
posts, portions of the plates, rafters, siding, etc.) 
First, a lot of refuse oak and chestnut logs were 
cut up into various lengths, and split into quar- 
Fig. 1 —SKELETON GREEN-HOUSE. 
ters. They were hewn somewhat straight on 
two sides, one side being made pretty true. 
These are set up in the ground firmly, like 
fence-posts. Seven on the rear or north side 
rise 9 feet above the ground, and seven others 
on the front or south side rise nearly 4 feet. The 
two posts on each end are of a hight to line 
with corner posts. These rough posts, set with 
the straight sides out, are furred out on the in¬ 
ner sides, by nailing on perpendicular strips, so 
as to make the thickness of the posts uniform, 
(about 10 inches), and also to give straight edges 
for boards. Matched boards are then nailed 
upon the outside and inside of the posts,' ex¬ 
cept at d, which is left for a door. The boards 
are hemlock, 1 inch thick, 9 inches wide, 13 
feet long, matched, and planed on one side. 
Thus planed and matched they cost 16 cents, 
each, delivered. The space between the outer 
and inner covering boards is filled with fine 
shavings, packed down. Charcoal, or saw-dust, 
or straw would 
answer, but we 
have chosen the 
shavings, be¬ 
cause they cost 
next to nothing 
at the planing 
Fig. 2—Section of wall. or joiner’s 
shop. (Fig. 2 is a 
section of one side, showing two posts, with the 
manner of putting on the boards, and filling in 
the shavings,' before putting on the plates.) 
The tops of all the posts are sawed off true, 
and two plates laid upon the front and rear rows, 
and spiked dowfi. Seven rafters are next laid 
on. These are 12i feet long, and are cut in the 
form shown in the last September Agriculturist* 
fig. 3, page 273. This leaves places for six long 
sashes. We have each of the 12-feet sashes 
made in two parts, 6 feet long, and 3$ feet wide, 
the upper one to lap upon the lower one. The 
sashes are to be well made, and the whole (12) 
are contracted for at $33, including the glass 
well put in. The upper tier will be movable, 
and be held in place by cords, pulleys, and 
weights. A door hung at d, will complete the 
structure. The sashes are like Fig. 3, Sept. Ag¬ 
riculturist, These, and the boards and nails, are 
the chief outlay. As near as we can figure now, 
the cost of boards, plates, rafters, nails, and a 
coat of paint on the outside, will be about $25 
to $27, making, with the $33 for 12 sashes, a 
total of about $60. (The items are: 90 boards, 
16c. each = $14.40; 2 plates, 22 feet long, 3x10 
inches, $1.37; 7 rafters, 3x4 inches, $1; door 
$1.75; hinges, latch, etc., $1; nails and spikes, 
$1; cord and pulleys, $1; painting, $3.50; 
sundries, $1 to $2.) Of course, if the labor was 
all hired, or we had other profitable work for 
our men, the cost would be somewhat greater. 
Many men, mechanics at least, can do all the 
work themselves. In the green T house here de 
scribed, we shall, for heating only, use a com¬ 
mon stove, and drain pipes, as described in 
November last, page 340. We hope these hints, 
taken in connection with what has been said in 
the last four numbers of the Agriculturist, will 
enable many of our readers to build themselves 
cheap green-houses, where more costly ones 
can not be afforded. We should have added, 
that the sashes we are providing, are just of 
suitable size and form to use on common cold 
frames and hot-beds, or on a small span-roof 
green-house, and they can thus be used for 
either purpose, when not needed for this green¬ 
house. Our cheap green-house can be examined 
by any one after the middle of January, when it 
will be finished and put to use. The inside 
measure will be 10 by 20 feet, giving an area or 
ground space of 200 square feet, and affording 
room for starting and growing many plants. 
The Cheapest Fruit Gatherer Yet. 
Recently a subscriber, N. G. Carnes, River- 
dale, N. Y., brought to the office of the Agricul¬ 
turist the cheapest fruit gatherer we have yet seen. 
It is simply a narrow sheet of 
strong tin, bent to a circle, 
and the ends tacked to the 
end of a pole. The upper 
edge is cut with notches to 
pick the fruit, and a bag 
large enough to hold half a 
dozen or more fair-sized ap¬ 
ples, is attached to the lower 
edge. The engraving repre¬ 
sents the handle inserted in 
a tin tube which is soldered 
to the side of the apparatus, 
but this is not neoessary. 
Any one can fit up this ar¬ 
rangement with a piece of 
old tin leader, a small strip 
of muslin, and a pole, at an 
expense of not ewer six 
cents, and it will be as ef¬ 
fective as many implements of the sort costing 
ten or twenty times the amount. At least we 
judge so from the handling of the apparatus. 
The teeth or scolloped edges should be rounded, 
and filed smooth, to prevent their cutting the 
apples, pears, and peaches in careless handling. 
