Artifacts
	The hothouse excavations produced the greatest number of artifacts of all the area investigated, over 23,000 artifacts in total. There were many surprises encountered within the artifact classes, including the variety of transfer-printed wares and the different flower pot rim styles. As expected, however, the artifact count is dominated by flat glass and flower pot fragments (93.5%). The artifacts generally date from the first decade to the middle of the 1800s.

	Flower Pots
	In the excavation of a structure such as a hothouse, one would expect to find abundant evidence of flower pots, those ubiquitous vessels assumed to be timeless and of dubious historical value. The Uniacke Estate hothouse was no exception. In the 1830 inventory, 110 plants are listed as being in pots. A minimum vessel count of the flower pot bases from the 1992 excavation revealed that at least 21 pots, or 19%, of those in the inventory, were recovered.

	The Uniacke flower pots are all of unglazed, red-bodied coarse earthenware, formed in the shape of a truncated cone with rims thickened to varying degrees. All of the bases recovered had well-formed drain holes. One vessel was reconstructed (taking approximately one week). No trays which would have accompanied the pots were recovered. The Uniacke flower pots fit well into the 1813-1830 period, although it is extremely difficult to date them with precision. The most likely origin for the flower pots from the Uniacke hothouse is Great Britain, although New England and Quebec are also possible sources.

	Bell Glasses
	A second distinctively-horticultural artifact type found during the 1992 excavations at the hothouse was the bell glass. These were large bell-shaped glass covers to be put over small, delicate plants to protect them and accelerate their growth. The bell glasses would have been used both directly on the ground in the garden and on flower pots in the hothouse. The 1830 inventory lists 20 bell glasses in the Uniacke Estate hothouse. There were 372 sherds of bell glass recovered, all of light green leaded glass. Two knobs from the top of the glasses were also found. They were most likely manufactured in Great Britain.

	Ceramics
	The ceramics from the hothouse proved to be surprisingly varied and were instrumental in confirming that the hothouse operated from the early 19th century up to 1830. There is some question about how fine transfer-printed ceramics ended up in a utilitarian building such as a hothouse, and there are several possible answers. The majority of people, when faced with this question, conclude that the broken ceramics were re-used as drainage in the bottom of flower pots. This practise has been documented in the 19th century and is certainly carried out today. A second possibility is that the ceramics represent the presence of a gardener in the building for extended periods, particularly during the winter when the fire needed to be maintained. Finally, there were no matching drainage trays recovered with the flower pots. Perhaps the ceramic plates, chipped and broken through use, were used in place of the earthenware trays? For a detailed discussion visit the Ceramics at the Hothouse page.

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