FLORICULTURE. 375 



The inside arrangement was changed several times before it was quite 

 satisfactory. The present one seems to be about as good as can be made 

 to accommodate the different sizes and varieties of plants, and to use all 

 the space to the greatest advantage. 



On the south side, directly under the windows, four shelves, about afoot 

 wide and from two to four inches apart, descend towards the center. 

 These are used for plants that require the most sun, and for the smaller 

 pots. Being placed so close together, they do not reach the floor by nearly 

 two feet. This leaves a nice place under them for newly potted plants or 

 those that are resting, while a row of dense trailing plants on the edge of 

 the lowest shelf hides the opening, and cleats nailed on both edges of 

 these shelves prevent the smaller pots from being pushed off. 



Across the west end are four-inch shelves, rising from near the floor to 

 the plate, and filled with plants that thrive best in the morning sun. 

 The north side is occupied by four wide shelves a foot or more apart, so 

 they, too, reach from floor to plate. The back part of the upper shelf is 

 filled with climbing plants, whose vines run wild over cords laced across 

 the rafters. In front of them and on the next shelf are the begonias, as 

 they require so little sun, while the lower ones accommodate the tall 

 growing plants that love the noonday heat. One shelf only runs across 

 the east end above the door, but by means of twining and trailing plants 

 the whole of that side, not occupied by tall nlants on the ends of the 

 north and south shelves, is covered with green. A shelf, the length of the 

 pit and about eight inches from the peali:, makes a fine place for trailing 

 plants that) bloom, while their fringe of bright blossoms and green leaves 

 adds greatly to the beauty of the view through the windows. Two posts 

 support the roof: around one is a handsome vine, while a tall fuchsia 

 with the help of a lovely pink ivy geranium hides the other. In order to 

 care for the plants, a space the width of the narrow door and two-thirds 

 across the center of the pit was dug about a foot lower than the bottom 

 of the pit and framed around with boards to keep the dirt in place. A 

 board across this frame enabled me to reach the most distant plants. 

 Such in detail was our pit. 



I had no intention, when planning it, of using it for anything that 

 would not stand a slight freeze, but, in the meantime, while it was in 

 process of construction, or rather excavation, I had consented to teach 

 the six-months winter school in our district, so, thinking that the plants 

 would require less care and, possibly, be safer, everything big or little, 

 hardy or tender, was turned into the pit to live or die as might be. 



We expected to have to use artificial heat of some kind, and first tried 

 a small oil stove, but it was defective in some way and made the air too, 

 impure. Afterwards a large lamp, that would burn twenty-four hours, 

 was used with more gratifying results. 



When the cold wave came in January, it was a question whether more 

 cold would be let in, by going in to fill the lamp than its heat would 

 counteract. Finally, we covered it a little closer, and for over two weeks 

 left it to itself. It was with many misgivings that we opened the pit 

 once more, and great was our surprise to find that the thermometer reg- 

 istered 45°, and that not even the tenderest plants showed signs of harm. 

 So, after that the lamp was not lighted except when we wished to dry out 

 the pit or to air it on cold days. There was not over a dollar's worth of 

 oil used during the winter. 



