190 PRACTICAL FLORICULTURE. . " ^ 



possible. But, as we have heretofore done, we will confine 

 ourselves to the district of New York, which may be taken 

 at the present time as a fair representation of the whole 

 country. 



The capital required in starting this department of hor- 

 ticulture I consider need not ]be so much as in that of 

 either nursery, vegetable, or fruit growing, and the 

 chances of moderate success I believe, from my observa- 

 tions, to be far greater. I say moderate success, for the 

 chances of making a colossal fortune in this are by no 

 means so great as in the regular nursery business, while 

 to offset this the chances of failure are less, and the busi- 

 ness is pleasanter and less exhaustive to follow. I have 

 hardly ever known a man who started in the florist?s busi- 

 ness to fail, unless he brought failure on himself by his 

 own imprudence; while I have known scores to fail in the 

 vegetable and nursery business, from causes entirely be- 

 yond their control. A frugal man, with a knowledge of 

 the business and $1,000 capital, may safely start in this 

 vicinity, or in any vicinity where there is a* town of 10,000 

 inhabitants of average intelligence and culture. But the 

 difficult question with all at starting is how to make that 

 $1,000 best available. Of course. expensive erections, such 

 as we have described in the chapter on green-house struc- 

 tures, are beyond his means, and something cheaper must 

 be adopted. The general principle on which these green- 

 houses are formed is ' in all respects the same, and the 

 beginner with limited means, instead of erecting three 

 houses, need erect only one, which should not be more than 

 50 feet long and of a width of 11 feet in the clear. The 

 proportions of height, <fcc., will be found in the drawing 

 on page 52. The sides may be formed of cedar or chest- 

 nut posts planked to the required height on the outside, 

 and filled in with brick on edge inside. In this way, at 

 present prices, a structure of this kind with flue, benches 

 and ajl complete need not cost more than six or eight dollars 



