The National Nurseryman. 
FOR GROWERS AND DEALERS IN NURSERY STOCK. 
Copyrighted 1902 by The National Nurseryman Publishing Co., Incorporated. 
“ There is a tendency to place too little vilue upon quality in fruit .”— William C. Bakry. 
Vol. X. ROCHESTER, N. Y., SEPTEMBER, 1902. No. 9. 
STORAGE HOUSES 
Suggestions for Their Construction Based Upon Recent Experi. 
ence in Varied Localities — As to Plans and Mater¬ 
ials—Interior Should Be Planned and Exterior 
Built Around It—As to Artificial 
Heat — Walls and Roofing. 
In view of the general interest lately manifested in the 
construction of storage and packing houses, suggestions as to 
plans and materials by those who have had experience are 
herewith presented: 
Chase Brothers Co., Rochester, N. Y., were among the first 
to construct storage houses for the handling of nursery stock. 
Regarding the construction of storage and packing houses, 
William Pitkin, secretary and treasurer of the Chase Brothers 
Co., said: 
“ Our experience has shown us that whatever material is 
used for storage houses for nursery stock the outer covering 
should be tight. The best material for covering the storage 
house, I believe, is corrugated iron siding which comes in 
sheets 100 feet square at $3 per sheet. Planed matched 
lumber can be used to advantage and it will cost less than the 
iron siding. There should be two or three air spaces, building 
paper being used with every layer of sheathing. The paper is 
what keeps out the cold (with the air spaces) and the inner 
courses of lumber need not be tight. But the outside course, 
whatever the material, must be tight. Corrugated iron roofing 
may be used for the roof. Felt and gravel makes a good roof. 
There must be air spaces under the roof also. We build from 
the ground up and bank up the sides ; we do not excavate 
under the building. We use sky-lights and side windows. 
“There is one suggestion I would make to any nurseryman 
who contemplates building a storage house. I would plan the 
interior first and lay it all out —storage department, grafting 
department, bins, boxes, etc.— and then build the exterior 
around it. I make this suggestion because in this way one 
may economize space. We have found after enclosing a 
building that when we come to divide our interior into rooms 
as we wanted, we needed two or three feet more space and 
could just as well have had it if we had so planned, and without 
little or no extra expense. Then, too, the location of windows 
can be made to better advantage by planning the interior first 
and building around it. And the skylights should be directly 
over the aisles. It will be found desirable to have plenty of 
light from above, especially when the house is filled up with 
stock. 
“ Brick walls or stone walls may be used. Some nurserymen 
have quite permanent houses so constructed. Newark, N. Y. 
nurserymen use steam piping to warm their storage houses. 
We have found that there is little need for artificial heat. We 
have several sheet iron stoves of the simplest design in which 
we burn coke in the northwest corner of the houses when 
there is zero weather and a high wind. At other times heat is 
not needed. It is a fact the smoke will prevent injury by frost 
to trees in storage. We had a slight fire in one of our storage 
houses. A portion of one side was burned away on a very 
cold night when the mercury was near to zero and I expected 
that the opening thus made would cause considerable loss by 
freezing to the stock in the house. But none of the stock was 
damaged. The house had been filled with smoke from the 
fire. Since then I have heard that smoke prevented damage 
under similar conditions Of course I know that smoke is 
used to protect trees in orchard. 
“ The size of a storage house will depend of course upon 
the use to which it is to be put. It should be remembered 
that the nearer the building is to a square the cheaper can it 
be built. A building 100 x 100 feet, 10,000 square feet, will 
require but 400 feet square of siding of a given height while a 
building 200x50 feet, 10,000 square feet, will require 500 
feet square of siding of the same height.” 
AT SARCOXIE, MO. 
Sarcoxie, Mo., August 19,—James B. Wild & Bros.: “Our 
storage building is 60 x 120. In the front it is 22 feet and at 
the rear about 14 feet in height. It has six sky-lights. The 
roof is supported by iron columns for 90 feet, then a cross wall, 
leaving two 30x30 rooms. On each side of the long walls are 
five chimneys; these are carried up from the foundation and 
there are openings at or near the foundation, also near the 
ceiling, for the purpose of letting in cool air or letting out hot 
air. On the south and west sides of the building are two large 
doors for admitting wagons loaded with trees. 
“The walls are thirteen inch brick but with air spaces of 
about two inches from foundation to roof where they are brick 
arched over to close up in air space at top. The sky-lights 
are 4x6 feet. Small doors and windows are placed at con¬ 
venience of the two rooms, 30 x 30. These are used for 
grafting rooms. The 60 x 90 room we store trees in and stack 
up like cord wood to within six or eight feet of the ceiling. 
The air space between roof and ceiling is 12 inches with 
double lathing and plastering a ceiling. 
“ The building was erected in 1882 and we have annually 
since stored from fifteen to twenty-five carloads of trees in it. 
We have kept apple, pear, peach, cherry and like stock in per¬ 
fect dormant condition (when properly stored) from Novem¬ 
ber 20th until June 15th. 
“We would, however, suggest that in constructing such a 
building again we would change the entire roofing to have 
eaves on the long side and build 24 feet in height, so that only 
half the air space in building would contain the stored trees, 
as we find that the lower the trees are stored the better they 
will stay in dormant condition. Then, too, we would have 
