462 JOURNAL OF THE ROYAL HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. 



of 16 ft. by 30 in., hinged either on the edge away from the ridge, or at 

 the ridge and on the long span. The front ventilation was secured by 

 putting a sash for the tier of glass between the eaves and the water-table. 

 One or two of the disadvantages of this style of house were the expen- 

 sive repairs required, especially in maintaining the benches and plank- 

 walks, the amount of water used rotting out the supports and causing 

 decay of the side-walls ; the front and back benches were so near the 

 glass that the buds touched it before they fairly showed colour, and were in 

 consequence deformed. 



To obviate this difficulty and yet keep one long span, a house was 

 designed which might almost be called a hybrid between the three- 

 quarter and the even span. This house differs largely in the benching, 

 having the walks next the side-walls, thus giving more head room. There 

 are three benches, separated by two walks. Convenient as these houses are, 

 they have one great drawback : it is impossible to use a wheelbarrow in 

 them. The benches may be all raised or solid, as pleases the builder, or 

 the back bench may be raised, the middle solid, and the front sunken. 

 The raised benches are built of hemlock timber, 5 in. or 6 in. deep, 

 and raised on 2-inch by 6-inch pieces, to a height convenient for 

 working. The solid benches are enclosed by 8-inch hemlock planks, 

 wired together at given distances to prevent spreading from the weight of 

 the soil, or the walls may be made of brick or concrete, making practically 

 a long box, determined by the length of the house and the width desired. 

 Into this broken stone is piled to give drainage, to a depth of 1 ft., 

 then a light covering of ashes from anthracite coal to give an even surface. 

 The bench is now ready for the soil. The construction of the sunken 

 bench is very similar, only that a trench of 18 in. is dug and walled 

 up in the same manner after the drainage stones have been put in place. 

 This bench does not give such good results as the others. It is so low that 

 it is shaded during the short winter days by the house in front and by the 

 woodwork of the house itself. (Fig. 131.) 



The even-span houses vary greatly in size and methods of benching. 

 They are usually fitted with two side benches and one or two middle ones, 

 dependent upon the width of the house ; these may be raised or solid. 

 When there are two middle benches they are separated by a footpath. 



In one form of the even-span several houses are built side by side and 

 not separated by partition walls. The front and back spans of these 

 houses have walls to the ground ; the other spans of any given number 

 are held in position by special devices, as the " Garland iron gutter," or 

 something similar. 



Having touched very cursorily on the several usual types of houses, it 

 may prove of interest to turn to the latest developments in greenhouse con- 

 struction. Not long since it was my good fortune to spend a number of 

 hours with Mr. Paul M. Pierson, manager of the greenhouses on that 

 model estate, the Briarcliff Farms, thirty miles north of New York city. 

 The establishment consists of a number of houses, most of them 50 ft. 

 by 300 ft., some planted with ' American Beauty ' Roses, some with 

 Carnations ; such a house contains 7,000 Hose plants. In the latter part 

 of April the bushes testified as to the number of blooms which had been 

 cut, while the Rosea in the vault told of the fine quality which always 



