CONSERVATORIES EV OUR HOMES AT SMALL COST. 



73 



that pipe was carried with ten coils under 

 the bench, six coils on the back wall, and 

 the whole of that plumbing was as follows : 

 The cost of the stove was $6 ; the mason 

 was paid $3.50 for bricking it in — the mason 

 found the brick ; and the plumbing cost $22 ; 

 the owner being a handy man built the walls 

 himself, bought the material at the sash fac- 

 tory and had a carpenter two days to get the 

 thing closed ; and with that small cost he 



3= 



^ 



D. 



JD 



had all that beauty for himself and others. 

 Don't attempt to put everything you can 

 read of in the books into your conservatory ; 

 nor to put all that you read of in books into 

 practice. Go slow. Feel your way. We 

 are always safe in starting with geraniums. 

 The geranium is one of God's greatest 

 blessings in the flower line to humanity, be- 

 cause it will stand almost any treatment and 

 show a smiling face. There are some plants 

 that are just as pernickety as pernickety can 

 be, but you must understand their pernick- 

 etiness or you won't get the pleasure from 

 them. You who love horses don't want a 

 horse that goes like a tame sheep, but you 

 want one that makes you feel the ribbons, 

 and that is a thing of life, and you control 

 it. That horse steps out and you feel that 

 you can pass John A. Thompson as you go 

 down the street. Flowers need to be handled 

 in the same way. It is said that roses would 

 be as sweet under any other name. I don't 

 know ; I never saw roses under anv other 

 name, but you know they are sweet and de- 

 sirable. The plant that would be more 



amenable next to the geranium probably is 

 the carnation ; but those of you who are 

 lovers of flowers know that what we called 

 carnations when we were boys would not 

 pass as flowers to-day. Look at those car- 

 nations, great beauties splashed white and 

 rose, yellow, mauve, almost all the shades of 

 color, and so sweet and so fragrant, and 

 they can be grown in a little conservatory, 

 so that a couple of dozen roots will give you 

 carnations galore. Then next to that, in a 

 small conservatory it is desirable to have 

 that which is ornamental. Then you come 

 to the palms. Keep to the Kentias, they 

 will give satisfaction. There are certain 

 plants which have somewhat been neglected 

 in the greater majority of families, and this 

 is the begonia family — beautiful plants that 

 require little attention and little study, and 

 which are most desirable and full of beauty. 

 They would be almost sufficient for any 

 amateur to start with and would give him 

 satisfaction. Where there are apples and 

 music there should be flowers. You know 

 there are birds in so many homes, and what 

 a dirty thing that sweet little canary is, and 

 how often you have to take the dust-pan to 

 gather up those broken seeds ; but you could 

 have fish — a small aquarium fitted with some 

 of those Mediterranean carp known as gold 

 fish, or even some of our own minnows or 

 shiners or red roach or the beautiful sun- 

 fish. A few of those in an aquarium, with 

 a certain amount of plant life, so as to bal- 

 ance your animal life with your botanical 

 life ; the water should not require changing 

 any oftener than two or three months, and 

 you may feed them a little German feed 

 once a day, and you have got a thing of 

 beauty and a joy forever. Their sinuous and 

 graceful movements are a charm, and you 

 can sit and watch them with pleasure, and 

 they are ever so much more cleanly to look 

 after than Dicky is." 



