THE GREEN-HOUSE AND CONSERVATORY. 29 



But, says my impatient reader, I cannot build span* 

 roofed houses or pits at a cost of three to four hundred 

 dollars; yet flowers are to me a necessity I must have 

 them. My carpenter has frightened me with estimates; 

 tell me how to build a cheap house. 



Attention, then : Your house must be about twenty-five 

 feet long by twelve feet wide ; smaller if you choose, but 

 you will find this will give you little enough room. Pro- 

 cure ten stout cedar posts, the larger the better, each about 

 eleven feet long. Set them in a line, two and one half feet 

 apart, on the northerly line of the space marked out for 

 your house, having previously charred them half an inch 

 deep for at least three feet at the lower end. Set them 

 three feet deep, and ram them well ; they are the back wall 

 of your house. Opposite each of these, and twelve feet 

 from it, set ten cedar posts, six feet long, equally stout, 

 charred, and set three feet deep. You have now the out- 

 line of the house, and the inclination which will give the 

 proper pitch to your roof. 



Board up your back wall with good pine boards, charred 

 where they come in contact with the ground ; also the 

 three feet of front between the ground and the eaves (or, 

 if stone is plenty, it is far better to lay up a wall in 



