UTILIZING PIAZZAS FOR PLANTS IN WINTER. 



Berckmans, Queen Charlotte, Souv de 

 Ant. Crozy. 



The many and valuable varieties of 

 American origin, I leave to the critic 

 w!io has tested them all, with the warn- 

 ing to be justly severe. These are the 

 offspring of continental hybrids, and we 



may always take it for granted that spe- 

 cialists "keep something up their sleeve," 

 and can "go one better" than the best; 

 also that improvement by selection is 

 not in leaps and bounds, but steadily — 

 yet surely — forward. 



Simcoe. H. H, Groff. 



UTILIZING PIAZZAS FOR PLANTS IN WINTER. 



Z::?n^HOUSANDS of farm houses 

 have piazzas upon the sunny 

 side that might be utilized for 

 both pleasure and profit in the 

 winter. Such utilization, moreover, 

 would entail no great expense outside 

 of the small amount of home carpenter- 

 ing that would be required. There are 

 two or three points to be considered 

 when making a plant room of a piazza. 

 First, as to floors. The ordinary piazza 

 has no tight underpinning to keep out 

 the cold. Usually it has only lattice 

 work, while the floor, also, is generally 

 more or less open. It would be no 

 great trouble to lay a new matched flocr 

 over the few feet of space to be occu- 

 pied by the plant room. Then cover 

 the lattice work around the base of the 

 piazza with heavy, resin-sized, or tarred 

 building paper, tacking it tightly, and 

 bank with evergreen brush. Now, as 

 to the outside walls. The greater part 

 must, of course, be of glass, but it is not 

 advisable to have the sash extend to the 

 floor. From the piazza rail down let 

 the wall be of matched boarding. Along 

 the front this could be screwed to the 

 inside of the rail. Sash to fit any open- 

 ing can now be bought very cheap. It 

 is desirable that communication with 

 this plant room be from a living room 

 rather than by a hall door, so it may be 

 found desirable to cut down a window 

 and make a door of it. This will obvi- 



Fio. 1316. — A Piazza Greenhol'sk. 



ate the necessity of having a door in 

 the outside, temporary partitions. 



The heating of such a plant room can 

 be done in a number of ways, but the 

 simplest and most satisfactory for the 

 average farmhouse will probably be by 

 the use of an oil stove. These little 

 sitting-room oil-heaters have been so 

 improved and made so reasonable in 

 price, that they will be found wonder- 

 fully convenient for just such use as 

 this. Care should be taken, however, 

 to get a make in which the flame will 

 not " crawl " up and smoke, if left by 

 itself. The accompanying illustration 

 gives a suggestion as to the making of a 

 plant room upon a piazza. Of course, 

 piazzas differ in shape, but the same 

 principle of treatment will apply to 

 nearly all cases. Make all as tight as 

 possible, then an oil-stove will give suffi- 

 cient heat to keep the plants in health. 

 — Amer. Agriculturist. 



119 



