THE raising of flowers and plants under glass is first in importance in the consideration of the flower trade of New York. The outdoor culture, although important when considered in its relation to the trade, is the producing element, but the hot-houses are the source from which springs the great flower business of the country. The capital invested in these hot-house nurseries is very large, and new enterprises are in progress in all of our city suburbs.

The first consideration of a nurseryman is a greenhouse; for it is in these structures under glass where all of his choicest plants are propagated and matured. These houses are, in some cases, of great size and of the most careful construction. Many of the smaller nurseries have only one house, and from this humble beginning they rise and increase until an acre or more of ground is covered with glass. The Allen nursery has a series of glass-houses one hundred and thirty-five feet square. The Siebrecht nursery at Astoria has eleven houses on its grounds, twenty by one hundred feet each, and there are other establishments of almost equal capacity around it.