THE CLEMENT GREENHOUSE
Assistant Professor of Biology
With the recent completion of the Clement Greenhouse, Dartmouth is now receiving the benefits of a greenhouse which is adequate for both teaching and exhibition purposes. It is located near though not adjacent to the Natural Science Hall—the new home of the Department of Botany—and there is sufficient land about the site to allow for the development of gardens and out-ofdoor plantings.
Proper facilities for the growth of representative collections of plants and of special plant materials for use in most courses in Botany are admittedly essential to the best and most inspiring instruction in the science of plant life. When Butterfield was built—primarily as a home for museum collections—no provision was made for the growth of plants other than could be done on the wide window ledges. As long as the most important phase of Botany was the collection, identification and preservation of dried plants, there was little need for a place to keep living plants. However, with the emphasis changing to the vital activities of plants, it was soon apparent that the teachers of Botany needed at least a small greenhouse. It was not until about the year 'l9lO that provision was made for the excavation of a small sunken greenhouse at the southeast corner of Butterfield, and opening directly into its basement. This space of about 450 square, feet of floor area, with light coming largely from the side and with the glass exposed to various hazards but particularly that of ice falling from the high roof above, was the only provision for the propagation of plants until the new greenhouse was erected.
The new structure is located on the east side, of North Main Street and close by the new site of the Choate House. At one side of this approach stands the Choate House, facing north. The Webster House will soon be placed on the other side of the open space and the whole quadrangle will be properly developed as a court with entrances to the three, buildings.
As seen from Main Street, the new greenhouse consists of a low central head house of brick, with a slate roof and two chimneys, flanked on each of the north and south ends by a wing 25 feet wide and 42 feet long, entirely enclosed in glass except for a low brick supporting wall. The glass is in large panes on a framework of narrow steel beams and is gracefully curved at the eaves.
The accompanying floor plan shows the arrangements of the rooms except for the basement section. The main entrance opens into a corridor from which stairs lead down to the basement. At either end of the corridor, doors open into exhibition rooms which house plant collections. The north wing is entirely devoted to such collections and is divided into two rooms; the first for temperate and shade-loving plants and the other larger room for tropical and semi-tropical species. It will be noted that some space is devoted to open pools of aquatic plants, a part to tall plants which are set in soil at the level of the concrete floor, while the rest of these two rooms is given over to potted plants on concrete benches. At the right as one enters from the head house is a plate glass case in which it is planned to grow certain plants which do best in a shady, humid atmosphere. Tiny streams of water will trickle down over stony ledges which will be covered with growths of moss and other plants of the deep, moist woods.
The first room which one enters in the south wing is to be used for rock plants and for collections of cacti and other plants of arid places. The provision of a separate room for these plants will allow the use of a higher temperature and dry air such as other plants cannot endure.
The smaller room immediately south of the arid room will be used for instruction and research in the diseases of plants. This isolated position should insure the rest of the building from possible contamination with troublesome diseases, since the cacti and rock plants will not be easily susceptible, to the diseases which are being studied.
Of the series of five small rooms in the south wing, that nearest the head house will be used as a propagation room in which seedlings, cuttings and young plants can be given conditions most favorable to rapid and healthy growth. The other four rooms are designed primarily for work in genetics, particularly of the insects.
The floor plan shows that the greater part of the central house is occupied by a large laboratory. This is used primarily for the work in plant physiology and is provided with suitable cases, tables, hood and a sink for- this purpose. Other small classes in Botany will also meet at times in this room into which living plants may be brought much more easily' and safely than they could be carried to the Natural Science Hall and later returned. There is comfortable seating space for 25 or 30 students in this room which, with the black board back of the instructor's table, makes a very convenient class room.
The short wing on the east side of this class room is similiar to the north and south wings in construction. It is designed as the laboratory for the work in plant physiology which requires all the conditions for the normal growth of plants. Research problems in Botany, other than those involving plant diseases, may also be worked out in this greenhouse laboratory while the benches at the two sides will provide for the housing of miscellaneous plants and for the growth of certain plant materials for the classes in Botany.
Each room in this new greenhouse has its own automatic heat control. A thermostat is hung in the center of the room and can be set to maintain any ordinary temperature except for the excessive heating effect of the sun. Ventilators are at the ridge and in small panels through the brick side walls below the level of the concrete benches. Artificial heat is provided from the oil-burning furnace in the basement of the head house and is evenly distributed in low pressure steam coils. Every precaution has been taken to avoid the introduction of harmful gases into the greenhouse rooms and to provide ideal atmospheric conditions for the plants.
The storage and work rooms are all in the basement section. The potting room with its tools and soil bins is under the east wing and opens directly to the level of the garden space in the rear. There certain plants can be planted out during the summer and other necessary operations can be carried out to advantage.
The arrangement and fittings of the building promise to be very favorable for the triple purpose of instruction, research and exhibition. The classes in Botany have begun to use the facilities to good advantage but it will require at least a year or two to establish a presentable collection of plants which will be worthy of the splendid building in which it is housed. The plants which were growing in the old greenhouse were moved about April Ist into the new structure while it was yet under construction. They suffered severely from moving and from subsequent exposure to cold draughts, broiling sun, falling lumber and tools, and the fumes of paint, ammonia and acids. The survivors must be a hardy lot and it is hoped that they will form the nucleus of an extensive and interesting collection of living plants.
[Note: The greenhouse is named for Orson C. Clement of Corinth, Vermont, who died in 1922 making a bequest to Dartmouth College, with the stipulation that a building should be erected bearing his name. Mr. Clement was not a graduate of Dartmouth or of any other college but had acquired; an interest in Dartmouth through the fact that his orot er, Martin Van Buren Clement, was a member of the class of 1866 until his death while still an undergraduate.—Editor]
The floor plan of the Clement Greenhouse
