the ridge should be properly supported. The heat for these beds can be furnished from one or more flues of sewer pipe running lengthwise of the bed at a depth of from eight to twelve inches below the surface. If possible, the bed should be arranged upon sloping ground so as to secure a good draft to the flues. At the lower end of the bed, brick arches or furnaces should be constructed large enough to take in wood that is four feet in length. An arch ten by twelve inches and five feet long inside will answer for a bed six feet wide and fifty feet long. The tile for the flue may be either six or eight inches in diameter, according to the climate and the crops to be raised. For beds twelve feet wide, two lines of flues should be provided and these should be eight inches in diameter. In place of the flues, hot water or steam pipes may be provided, or if exhaust steam can be secured, it may be turned into lines of small tile, arranged as recommended for flues. Hot-beds built in this way serve a good purpose for the starting of vegetables and plants in the winter, or early spring, and for growing many of the vegetables such as radishes, lettuce and beets, and in southern Missouri in particular, their use would be found profitable in competition with northern growers who are obliged to use expensive greenhouses and a large amount of fuel to bring their crops to perfection.

While greenhouses would be most generally used for commercial purposes, there are many persons who as amatures erect houses in which to grow plants and flowers for their own pleasure. While good results can often be secured in an ordinary bay-window, it will be more satisfactory if a special room can be provided that can be cut off from the remainder of the house. Such a structure can frequently be placed in an angle of the dwelling so as to form a sort of veranda conservatory. This may be from six to ten feet in width and of any desired length (Fig. 4). The sides should be of glass, and if desired can be so arranged that they can be removed in the summer time to form a sort of open veranda. While the best results will be secured if the roof also is of glass, this will not be necIf the dwelling is heated by steam, or hot water, it will be a small matter to provide coils for the conservatory, and even if a hot-air furnace is used for heating the dwelling, it will often be possible to introduce a heating coil in the furnace to supply hot water for warming the conservatory. In other cases small independent heaters may be employed.

essary.

If more elaborate structures are employed, they may be built out from one corner, or from the side of the house, or may be entirely detached from it. If the size permits, it will be possible not only to grow a variety of plants for their handsome foliage and flowers but others may be propagated for use as bedding plants upon the lawn, and it will also be possible

not only to start vegetable plants for the garden, but a great variety of vegetables may be forced to provide a supply for the table for the winter and spring months.

In the construction of greenhouses, cypress lumber is generally used for the plates, sash bars and ridge and in the better class of houses a framework of iron is used, upon which the wooden portions rest. While the modern, iron-frame (Fig. 5) construction is in many ways desirable, and will often in the long run prove most economical, the increased first cost will prevent it from being commonly adopted for ordinary greenhouse purposes. The iron-frame house may be raised upon a brick foundation, or iron posts may be set in the ground to which the side posts can be attached. Iron rafters are placed once in seven or eight feet and connecting them are plates, purlins and a ridge, upon which the sash bars rest. With this form of construction, much lighter sash bars can be used than in wooden houses, as nearly all the strain and weight of the roof is borne by the iron posts and rafters. The house will also be much more durable, as the portions that are first to decay in a wooden house have been replaced by iron.

The height will dewhether there is to be

When wooden houses are used, posts of cedar or cypress (Fig. 6) should be set at intervals of from four to six feet. pend somewhat upon the crops to be grown, and glass in the side walls. In the former case, four feet will be ample, while in the latter, four and one-half to five feet will be none too much. The walls can be formed of sheathing and block siding, with a double thickness of building paper between. If ventilation is to be placed in the side walls, there should be a sash sill arranged for them to close upon. Various forms of plates may be used, but they should be so arranged that they will provide a firm bearing for the sash bars, and for the running off of the water upon the inside, as well as on the outside of the house. In wooden frame houses, rafters are now seldom used, the usual plan being to depend entirely upon sash bars which rest upon one, or more, lines of gas pipe, or similar purlins.

The usual size of the sash bars is about one and one fourth by two and one half inches, and drip gutters in the sash bars are desirable. One and sometimes two continuous lines of ventilation at the ridge should be provided, and connected with shafting so that a line fifty to one hundred feet in length may be worked with one machine. In houses twenty feet wide, when a single row of ventilating sash is used, it should be from thirty to thirty-six inches wide, while if there are two rows they should. vary from twenty-four to thirty inches, according to the kind of crops to be grown.