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| title | chunk | source | category | tags | date_saved | instance |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Greenhouse | 2/4 | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Greenhouse | reference | science, encyclopedia | 2026-05-05T09:02:41.007301+00:00 | kb-cron |
I shall essay the finishing of my greenhouse this fall, but find that neither myself, nor any person about me is so well skilled in the internal constructions as to proceed without a probability at least of running into errors. Shall I for this reason, ask the favor of you to give me a short description of the Green-house at Mrs. Carrolls? I am persuaded, now that I planned mine on too contracted a scale. My house is (of Brick) 40 feet by 24, in the outer dimensions …
=== 19th century ===
The French botanist Charles Lucien Bonaparte is often credited with building the first practical modern greenhouse in Leiden, Holland, during the 1800s to grow medicinal tropical plants. Originally only on the estates of the rich, the growth of the science of botany caused greenhouses to spread to the universities. The French called their first greenhouses orangeries, since they were used to protect orange trees from freezing. As pineapples became popular, pineries, or pineapple pits, were built.
=== 19th-century England ===
The largest glasshouses yet conceived were constructed in England during the Victorian era. As a direct result of colonial expansion, the purpose of glasshouses changed from agriculture to horticulture. The accelerated transfer of plants and horticultural knowledge between colonies contributed to the Victorian fascination with 'exotic' plants and environments. Glasshouses became spectacles to entertain the general public. The curated environments in glasshouses aimed to capture "the Western imagination of an idealised landscape" and support the fantasy of the cultural 'other'. As a consequence, the collection of plants are believed to be true reflections of the world, yet are actually stereotypical arrangements of 'exotic' plants to symbolize exactly where British colonies are and how far their authority reaches. To uphold British hegemony, glasshouses became arguments of colonial power which flaunt the "absolute control of colonized environments and flora...[using plants] as a symbol of British Imperial power. A prominent design from the 19th century were glasshouses with sufficient height for sizeable trees, called palm houses. These were normally in public gardens or parks and exemplified the 19th-century development of glass and iron architecture. This technology was widely used in railway stations, markets, exhibition halls, and other large buildings that needed large, open internal area. One of the earliest examples of a palm house is in the Belfast Botanic Gardens. Designed by Charles Lanyon, the building was completed in 1840. It was constructed by iron-maker Richard Turner, who would later build the Palm House, Kew Gardens at the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew, London, in 1848. This came shortly after the Chatsworth Great Conservatory (1837–40) and shortly before The Crystal Palace (1851), both designed by Joseph Paxton, and both now lost.
Other large greenhouses built in the 19th century included the New York Crystal Palace, Munich's Glaspalast and the Royal Greenhouses of Laeken (1874–1895) for King Leopold II of Belgium. In Japan, the first greenhouse was built in 1880 by Samuel Cocking, a British merchant who exported herbs.
=== 20th century ===
In the 20th century, the geodesic dome was added to the many types of greenhouses. Notable examples are the Eden Project in Cornwall, The Rodale Institute in Pennsylvania, the Climatron at the Missouri Botanical Garden in St. Louis, Missouri, and Toyota Motor Manufacturing Kentucky. The pyramid is another popular shape for large, high greenhouses; there are several pyramidal greenhouses at the Muttart Conservatory in Alberta (c. 1976). Greenhouse structures adapted in the 1960s when wider sheets of polyethylene (polythene) film became widely available. Hoop houses were made by several companies and were also frequently made by the growers themselves. Constructed of aluminum extrusions, special galvanized steel tubing, or even just lengths of steel or PVC water pipe, construction costs were greatly reduced. This resulted in many more greenhouses being constructed on smaller farms and garden centers. Polyethylene film durability increased greatly when more effective UV-inhibitors were developed and added in the 1970s; these extended the usable life of the film from one or two years up to three and eventually four or more years. Gutter-connected greenhouses became more prevalent in the 1980s and 1990s. These greenhouses have two or more bays connected by a common wall, or row of support posts. Heating inputs were reduced as the ratio of floor area to exterior wall area was increased substantially. Gutter-connected greenhouses are now commonly used both in production and in situations where plants are grown and sold to the public as well. Gutter-connected greenhouses are commonly covered with structured polycarbonate materials, or a double layer of polyethylene film with air blown between to provide increased heating efficiencies.
== Theory of operation == The warmer temperature in a greenhouse occurs because incident solar radiation passes through the transparent roof and walls and is absorbed by the floor, earth, and contents, which become warmer. These in turn warm up the surrounding air within the greenhouse. As the structure is not open to the atmosphere, the warmed air cannot escape via convection due to the presence of roof and walls, so the temperature inside the greenhouse rises. Window glasses are practically transparent for short-wave infra-red radiation emitted by the sun, but almost opaque for long-wave radiation emitted by objects in the room. Quantitative studies suggest that the effect of infrared radiative cooling is not negligibly small, and may have economic implications in a heated greenhouse. Analysis of issues of near-infrared radiation in a greenhouse with screens of a high coefficient of reflection concluded that installation of such screens reduced heat demand by about 8%, and application of dyes to transparent surfaces was suggested. Such as, using techniques that apply coatings which convert ultraviolet wavelengths into red light, improving photosynthetic efficiency and increasing crop yields. Composite less-reflective glass, or less effective but cheaper anti-reflective coated simple glass, also produced savings.