302 
AMERICAN AGRICULTURIST. 
[August, 
lap tlie bottom rail 2‘| a inches. The top rail should 
not be grooved out to receive the upper edge of 
the upper pane of glass, as in case of breakage 
it is almost impossible to clean it out; it should, 
therefore, be rabbeted to correspond with the 
sash-bars. A cross-bar of iron one quarter of 
an inch thick by half an inch wide, should be 
Fig. 5.— GROUND PLAN OP GREENHOUSE. 
a, a, Front Platform for Plants; b, b , Center Platform; c, c. Side of Dwellin 
The dotted lines show the position of the Rafters and Ridge-pole. 
put across the middle of each sash, only lapping 
one inch on each side rail, or a cross-bar of 
ash or some similar wood may be used: it 
should be about five eighths of an inch thick 
and three quarters of an inch wide, and notched 
out half its depth to receive the sash bars; these 
last should not be notched out on any account, 
as it weakens the sash very materially. The 
screws used in putting on these cross-bars should 
be dipped in boiled linseed oil, to prevent them 
rusting in the sash bars, which would weaken 
them. The joints should all be put together 
with strong glue and not with white or red lead 
and oil; the glue makes a much stronger joint, 
and when the sasli is kept well painted, will 
hold as long as the wood lasts, as it does not 
evaporate or dry out, as the oil does. 
The glass should.be 6x8 French seconds, 
each pane to overlap the other about three 
eighths of an inch; the lower panes should over¬ 
lap the bottom rail at least half an inch. They 
should not be bedded in putty when put in, as 
they cannot be so evenly laid when that is done; 
after being puttied on the face, they should be 
back-puttied, that is, the angular spaces formed 
by the overlaps should be filled up with putty; 
this makes a much neater job than any other 
way. Each pane should be fastened down at 
the overlap with a half-inch copper or zinc 
sparable on each side. 
The outside measure of the house is 18 feet 
9 inches wide (from east to west), and 19 feet 
long, from north to south; over all, from the 
ground level to the top of the ridge-pole, is 14 
feet. In constructing it, locust posts 7 or 8 
feet long, squared on two sides to 4 inches thick, 
are set in the ground 3 feet 1 inch apart from 
center to center, leaving 4 feet above the ground 
level. These are weather-boarded inside and out¬ 
side ; on the top of these posts, after being sawed 
off level and square, a strip of white pine 2 
inches thick and 6 inches wide is nailed-down, 
which answers the purpose of a plate. It is 
beveled on the front to the angle of the rafters 
(45 degrees), and from where the upper edge of 
the lower rail of the sash touches it, it is bevel¬ 
ed back to the thickness of an 
inch, the object of this being 
to prevent the water-drip lying 
on it and rotting it. The space 
between the weather-boarding 
is left vacant, as the still, in¬ 
closed air is a better non-con¬ 
ductor of cold than any filling 
would be. The rafters are 6 
inches deep by 3 inches wide, 
an inch and a half of thickness 
being cut away for the lower 
sash, so that for the lower half 
of their length they are only 
4'|a inches deep. They may 
be made of uniform depth 
through their whole length, 
and a thickness strip planted 
on under the upper sash. The 
toe of the lower end' of each 
rafter rests upon the plate 
strip, and is nailed through it 
to the head of the post im¬ 
mediately beneath it. A ridge¬ 
pole, 2 inches by 12 inches, is 
carried the whole length of 
the house; the end next the 
dwelling is supported by a 
bracket; two intermediate 
posts to carry it are placed one 
at each end of the center plant- 
stage, and the outer end is sup¬ 
ported by a small strip carried 
up from the door-head. We sometimes see houses 
constructed without a ridge-pole, but the roof in 
such cases is always very weak and continually 
spreading, sometimes causing them to fall in. 
The upper end of the rafters is nailed to this 
ridge-pole. No parting strip is necessary be¬ 
tween the sashes, nor is it necessary to have the 
rafter grooved out under each sash, as is some¬ 
times done, to carry off the water. Such chan¬ 
nels soon become choked up by dust and dirt, 
and are the favorite resort of all sorts of insects; 
they are, indeed, worse than useless. 
A stop piece l’| a by 4 inches, is nailed along 
the rafters at the head of the upper sashes, and 
a similar strip is carried along the peak of the 
rafters; these two strips carry the weather-board¬ 
ing of the cap; this weather-boarding, should 
cover the upper rail of the sash about 2 inches. 
Inside, a narrow ceiling is carried across; this 
gives a neater appearance to the inside than if 
the peak above the sashes is left open. 
The Egyptian Beet. 
BY PETER HENDERSON. 
I send you six specimens of early Beets ; the 
larger is the “Egyptian,” the other the “Short- 
top Round.” You will observe that the Egyptian 
is more than double the size of the other, the aver¬ 
age circumference being Winches, while that of 
the Short-top Round is only 8 inches. Both these 
varieties were sown under exactly similar con¬ 
ditions of soil and manuring, on April 15th. 
The Egyptian was first marketed on June 5th, 
and brought ten dollars per 100 bunches—about 
two cents each; the other was first sent in on 
June 17tb, and sold for four dollars per 100 
bunches, or less than one cent each. And even 
at this date, July 1st, when the market is 
flooded, the superior size of the Egyptian gives 
it a freer sale, at 25 per cent higher rates, than 
the old variety. From the smallness of the 
tops of the Egyptian, at least one fourth greater 
number can be grown on the same space than 
we have been in the habit of raising, so that it 
must take the place of all other varieties, either 
for market or private gardens. Last year I 
tried the new beet, very carelessly indeed, but 
even in that way saw that in earliness it was 
in advance of the other; but this season, when 
grown by the acre, side by side with our old 
varieties, the difference is greater than I have 
ever yet seen iu any other vegetable. It is fully 
twelve days ahead of the other round varieties 
in earliness, and that means that the profit per 
acre will at least be doubled, when grown in 
competition with the old sorts. In other words, 
if the old Short-top Round, or Bassano, gave 
us a profit of three hundred dollars per acre, the 
Egyptian is certain to give six hundred dollars. 
This advantage^ of course, will only be tempo¬ 
rary, for just as soon as its cultivation becomes 
general, the profits will come down to the old 
level. Those growing the Egyptian for the 
next year or two, will most likely reap the bene¬ 
fit; for we all know, that no matter what merit 
any article may have, it takes years before all 
the people find it out. 
[From our experiments this year with several 
kinds of early beets, we are confident that Mr. 
Henderson does not overstate the superiority of 
the Egyptian. With us it was far ahead of any of 
some half-dozen varieties. Ifother results are ob¬ 
tained, we shall be inclined to attribute them to 
false seed, as one of our dealers, iu ordering the 
Egyptian from an English house, received some 
seed with the word that they were out of 
the Egyptian, but had sent some “just as good,” 
and which they were selling for Egyptian.—Ed.] 
Notes from the Pines. 
Grapes. —The moral influence of gardening 
in general has formed the theme of more than 
one essayist. The subject might be treated 
with special reference to grape culture, though 
I don’t propose to do it any further than to say 
that a small vineyard affords an abundant field 
for the exercise of patience and many other 
virtues. Last year I planted a little vineyard 
of some fifty vines, in about half Iiumuc '- 
rr'i • -ere partly one. year 
of varieties. The vm— / J J 
,, and three,and included old and 
old, othe ,, “' ,, ’ 
well-known as well as new and untested sorts. 
The vines all made a fair first year’s growth ; 
in fall, were cut back to near the ground, and 
left during the winter without any protection. 
Their behavior this year, now that they are 
well established, allows me' to form a fair 
opinion as to which 
Varieties are adapted to my soil. There 
are some which, like the Concord, succeed al¬ 
most anywhere, and others, like the Iona, that 
succeed almost nowhere. What a magnificent 
frmt the Iona is when it will grow as it does iu 
some localities in Ohio and elsewhere! Here a 
young vine will make a fair growth the first 
year, a smaller one the second, and by the third 
it will have dwindled away to a stick with a few 
curled and half-developed leaves upon it, and 
only fit to be cast out. The South Carolina 
Hybrids of Dr. Wylie, from which much was 
expected, may be considered as failures here. 
I have had them for three and five years, and 
do not care to bother with them any longer.. 
The Rogers’ grapes and the Martha sec "> 
