22 Hillside Greenhouses. 



HILLSIDE GREENHOUSES. 



By Robert Manning, Salem, Mass. 



Our attention has lately been drawn to a new plan of building green- 

 houses, which appears to possess such advantages over any thing previously 

 known, that we cannot doubt it is destined to work a revolution in green- 

 house culture, especially in the business of propagating and forcing plants, 

 for which it is particularly intended. We refer to the greenhouse erected 

 the last season by Mr. Strong, at his nurseries at Nonantum Hill, Brigh- 

 ton, the result of one of those happy ideas which are such obvious im- 

 provements over previous plans, that every one wonders why he has not 

 thought of them before. Such ideas, however, come only as the result of 

 long-continued and patient labor and thought. 



Having had the pleasure of visiting and examining this house, we believe 

 Mr. Strong has not overrated its merits, and now lay before the readers 

 of this Journal the results of our visit. 



One of the latest favorites among the different methods of building prop- 

 agating houses is that known as the ridge and furrow system, which con- 

 sists in placing several small houses side by side, with span-roofs on the 

 same level. Mr. Strong has placed his houses on the side of a hill, each 

 one rising above the preceding, and furnished with a roof slightly hipped 

 on the back side, the hip being covered with a wooden ventilator instead 

 of glass. The sashes rest on the ridgepole at the top, and, at the bottom, 

 on the edge of the gutters, which are provided for the purpose of receiving 

 the snow and water falling on the roof. The other edge of the gutter sup- 

 ports the lower part of the hip of the house next below ; and the gutters are 

 themselves supported by a row of cedar posts, which take the place of the 

 partition walls in houses as ordinarily constructed. The rafters, being in- 

 tended rather to stiffen the ridgepole than to support the sashes, are few 

 and slender, offering no obstruction to the light. The outer walls are of 

 stone laid in mortar, and banked with earth ; so that the house forms, as it 

 were, an immense pit. The number of houses, or what would be separate 

 houses were the partitions whole, is seven, each one sixty-five feet long and 

 about fourteen feet wide ; the dimensions of the whole being sixty-five by 



