22 WORCESTER COUNTY HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. [1880. 



done during the most stinging days of winter. Let me tell you 

 how I have altered a cottage-like home in Newton. When I 

 bought it, it had a veranda running almost entirely around it, 

 with cornice, or coping, which came down to within eight feet of 

 the floor. However pleasant this might be during the summer 

 season, it was apparent that the house must be dark and shaded 

 during the winter. As a simple and complete i-emedy for this I 

 enclosed the veranda on the south side witli upright sashes, and, 

 presto, the whole south side of our house is changed into a glass 

 conservatory, which is flooded with light. Our very next prob- 

 lem, but of course an eas}^ one, was that of regulating this blaze 

 of light by means of shades. Heat was provided by means of 

 an additional hot-air pipe from the furnace. A temporary double 

 roof is previded, 8^ feet above the floor, to prevent the heat from 

 rising to the roof of the veranda. The entire structure is tem- 

 porary and of the simplest form, costing but $80. We remove 

 it in April, and put it up again in November of each year at a 

 trifling cost of time. The result is that we throw open our front 

 doors and windows, not again to be closed during the entire 

 winter. We close our furnace in tlie morning of every bright 

 day, however cold it may be, and yet the whole house is radiant 

 with the light and warmth and fragrance from the veranda. 

 Considering its heating capacity in bright days it is a question 

 whether we ought to debit anything to the account for fuel for 

 cold nights. At any rate, tlie item is very small. I do not say 

 that in so large a room, which is kept so open and from which 

 we are continually passing out of doors, we coul^ obtain luxu- 

 riant growth except by means of cases and a more confined tem- 

 perature than 1 have provided. But we have no ditiiculty in 

 keeping oranges, palms, acacias and kindred plants in perfect 

 health, while camellias, azaleas, cytisus, carnations, and all the 

 Dutch bulbs develop their blooms to perfection. 



So great is our success, attained so easilj' and with so little 

 cost, that it is a surprise to me that more do not adopt this plan 

 of glass protection from the wintfer-cold, this trap to catch the 

 sunbeams, this annexation of a bit of the tropics to our northern 

 homes. Can you not plan, my friend, how you can enclose your 

 porch, or your piazza, or some projection of your house, or build 

 out a bow-window or an annex, so as to secure all the advantages 

 of sunlight in your dwellings, and also give you all the enjoy- 

 ments which come from an intimate daily study and care of 

 plants? 



Considering the care of plants, he said love of them is the first 

 requisite, and definite rules cannot be laid down. I will admit, 

 however, that there are a few general laws of health which it is 



