Fig. 28.—Ground Plan.
In this design we give a small Green House which has been erected in a substantial and permanent manner. The Green House is quite small, being only 20 by 30 feet. It is intended to keep bedding plants, Camellias, Oranges, and similar things, during the winter, and also to propagate such plants as may be wanted for bedding purposes on a place of moderate dimensions. This house runs east and west. Its position was determined partly by the nature of the ground, but mainly by the propagating bed. Fig. 28 is the ground plan. The large compartment is nearly twenty feet square. The potting-room, which is at the west end of the house, is eight by ten feet, and is fitted up with desks, drawers, and other necessary conveniences. The furnace pit, at the same end of the house, is eight by eight feet, and contains ample room for coal. The house is heated by two four-inch pipes. The large compartment has a side table for plants. On the north side of the house there is a propagating bed, the bottom heat for which is supplied by a hot-air chamber. This hot-air chamber is formed by simply inclosing a portion of the iron pipes. In the plan there is a large table in the centre of this compartment; but this was not put in, the owner adopting the suggestion of setting his large plants on the floor of the house; a very excellent plan in itself, but which was subsequently very much marred by filling in the whole floor of the house to the depth of six inches with coarse pebbles, to the injury, we think, of the subsequent well-being of the house. The idea was, an appearance of neatness, the preservation of the tubs, and to prevent the roots from running through; but an inch of nice gravel would have secured the first without the objections that lie against the thick coat of pebbles, while the other objects will not be secured; for the tubs will rot, and the roots will not thus be prevented from running through the pots. This object must be secured by other means than pebbles. The pebbles are unpleasant to walk on, become heated, and dry off the house too rapidly, to the manifest injury of the plants. We merely mention the subject, that our readers may avoid a similar error, and save themselves the money thus needlessly spent.
Fig. 72 is a perspective view of the house. The west end is boarded and battened. This corresponds with the general design of the house, and presents a neat finish. The sides, except the potting room, are of glass, the sashes being about three feet high. Every other sash is hung at the bottom, for the purpose of ventilation. The roof is a continuous glazed roof, and is quite flat, which is a decided advantage to the plants within. There are no ventilators in the roof, the top ventilation being effected by means of the sashes over the doors at each end, which are hung at the bottom for this purpose, and afford abundant ventilation for a house the length of this one. There is an ornamental crest along the ridge, and at each end a neat finial.
DESIGN No. 10.
Fig. 29.—Perspective View.
Fig. 30.—Section.