20 HALF-HARDY PLANTS AND GREENHOUSES [CH. 



a greenhouse which only lures good plants to their 

 destruction on some frosty night? And I know not 

 what is to be gained by storing ugly pots with leafless 

 tenants all through winter only to have them beautiful 

 when all the plants outside are vigorous. If it is worth 

 spending money in building a house, it is surely worth 

 just a little more in fitting it for its special purpose, which 

 is to grow these things well, as they ought to be grown, 

 and to be able to enjoy their beauty during the long, 

 bleak, wintry months. 



It is desirable that the house should not be crowded 

 with stages. A bed running along one side, front or rear, 

 makes it easy to plant such things as are meant to adorn 

 the walls or roof, and this bed should be amply and well 

 filled with nourishing food for years to come, chiefly rotted 

 sods from an old pasture, mixed with broken bones, char- 

 coal, or charred wood ashes and burnt earth. One Rose, 

 a Mare"chal Niel, or Fortune's Yellow, thus planted and 

 trained over a portion of the roof, might be made to bear 

 the cost of the winter's fire. A few wire baskets hung 

 judiciously above the stage will lend themselves to the 

 requirements of straggling plants, such as the Ivy-leaf 

 Geraniums, Blue Lobelia, Moneywort, or some of the 

 better sorts of Nasturtium. 



Of course, each house will be furnished according to 

 the taste and ability of the owner, but one rule I would 

 suggest for all it is, that they only admit good things into 

 their greenhouse, that they endeavour as far as possible to 

 exclude rubbish ; and this rule holds good for seeds as well 



