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Gustave Falconnier in Garden and Forest
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The most novel of the various greenhouse exhibits are the two curious structures made of the Falconnier glass bricks. These bricks are essentially bottles without an opening, and blown in such shapes that they fit well into the designs of the builder. As a rule, the interior hollow is about large enough to hold a quart of liquid. The bricks are generally flattened, but the two broad sides are usually raised into a cone-like shape, in order to present various surfaces to the incident rays of the sun and to break the force of hail and shocks. The narrower sides are two or three inches wide and are trough-shaped to hold the cement or mortar with which the bricks are joined. The bricks are laid by a mason in much the same manner as ordinary bricks are laid, and the entire arch of the greenhouse-roof supports itself without posts, rafters or braces. The roof and sides are, therefore, a continuous sheet of glass. These bricks have been well tested in parts of Europe, and they are found to conserve heat one-half, to render the temperature of the houses uniform and to prevent all scalding of the plants. Considering the fact that no framework is required, a house can be built of this material about as cheaply as in the common fashion. Most greenhouse-men who have seen the two little exhibition-houses at Chicago will, no doubt, feel that they are too dark for the growing of Roses and the forcing of vegetables; but the exhibitors say that for such houses the bricks are made of clear bright glass, while these are made of bottle glass. It is the desire of the inventor to manufacture the bricks in this country. They recommend them for sky-lights, porch-roofs, photographers' studios, propagating-pits, and the like. These bricks are the invention of Mr. Falconnier, of Nyon, Switzerland. The prices quoted in France last year were twenty-four francs per 100, and about fifty are required for a square meter.

Garden and Forest, Volume 6, Issue 296, page 449, October 25, 1893