20 THE UNHEATED GREENHOUSE 



especially in a small one, partly, though not wholly, on 

 account of ground-damp, but this must be a matter for 

 individual taste to decide. 



Delightful as it is to look out upon a garden picture of 

 bright flowers close at hand when all beyond is shrouded in 

 fog or iron-bound in frost, it must be granted that a good 

 deal of damp, very undesirable but easily communicated to a 

 sitting-room, is a not infrequent sequence of the privilege, 

 especially when the conservatory is unheated. It can be 

 mitigated, however, if not altogether avoided, overhead by 

 the thoroughly sufficient system of glazing that has been here 

 recommended for the prevention of drip, and under foot by a 

 floor tiled throughout, which effectually precludes the rising 

 of moisture from the ground. 



SHOOTING 



An abundant supply of rain-water close at hand is 

 important, no less for the convenience of the cultivator than 

 for the welfare of his plants, and no working greenhouse 

 should be built without a tank of some sort to hold the rain- 

 fall from the roof and proper gutters to convey it into the 

 right receptacle. The waste of water in this land of ours is 

 enormous, and it is a subject which calls for much more 

 serious consideration by experts than has hitherto been given 

 to it. In a small way e.g., from the roofs of glass-houses in 

 private gardens much good, pure water is allowed to run 

 away for want of proper shooting, soaking into the ground, 

 where it makes a swamp and doing harm where it should be 

 an unmixed good. A well-cemented covered tank below the 

 ground level with a pump is perhaps the most convenient 

 form of reservoir, as its holding capacity may be as great, in 

 reason, as space and circumstance will permit, and certainly 

 greater than that of any cistern that can be placed in the 



