140 THE UNHEATED GREENHOUSE 



appealed to for the settlement of doubtful questions which 

 continually crop up. 



It is a happy thing to have a working greenhouse of our 

 very own where we may find occupation, not in desultory 

 fashion, but with method and intent, and even make mistakes 

 at our own sweet will. In doing so we learn by experiment 

 the intricacies and the art as well as the delights of plant- 

 management, which neither gardener nor printed book can 

 teach so well as the practice of our own hands so true is it 

 that one grain of experience is worth a whole bushel of 

 theory. 



The unheated greenhouse has a future before it full of 

 possibilities, while on its experimental side there is a vast 

 amount yet for the most skilful to learn. On a large scale, it 

 is worthy of a palace, but like all other phases of garden-work 

 it belongs to no class and adapts itself to every home, bringing 

 beauty and solace as much into leisured as into toiling lives as 

 scarcely any other recreative occupation can. The trend of 

 modern out-door gardening is towards broad effects, grand 

 vistas, spreading lawns, and cascades of roses in short, 

 towards all the garden luxury which lies within the scope of 

 ample space and riches at command delightful beyond 

 words for those who can indulge in them. The unheated 

 greenhouse, while it appeals to these, for it may take on noblest 

 proportions, appeals first and foremost to the plant votary ol 

 another calibre and to a different sense. It is within the 

 compass, if need be, of moderate means and moderate powers 

 of health and strength, providing a calm and restful, yet suffi- 

 ciently absorbing, recreation at all times from the arduous 

 duties, or, it may be, labours of life, whereby the simplest 

 home and family festival may be glorified or the hours of 

 harass and sorrow mitigated and soothed, while the tension of 

 anxious care is relaxed. 



