STARTING THE GARDEN IN THE HOUSE. 27 



tools as with the pen. Two shelves are enough in 

 eachwindow, and I found a lath, covered with cretonne, 

 as a concession to the aesthetic, and nailed across the 

 window frame, on a level with the top of the lower 

 sash, made a good support for light window boxes. 



Flower pots will be needed for the windows, and it 

 is well to have a few of different sizes for some of 

 your work. It is, however, very much cheaper to use 

 wooden boxes. In my own experience I found there 

 is nothing better than a bundle of laths. It cost de- 

 livered only 30 cents, and out of it I made dozens of 

 plant and seed boxes of all shapes and sizes. 



The accompanying sketch shows one of my window 

 boxes. It was made by cutting ten laths into lengths 



of 2 feet 10 inches, and nailing them together in two 

 sets of three each (placed side by side) and one of 

 four laths. They are fastened by the short crossbars 

 and then the three sets are nailed together and the 

 ends filled up and all made secure with small wire 

 nails. To prevent splitting I keep the laths in a 

 damp place till ready to be used. Such boxes are of 

 a convenient length for the window and will just fit 

 into a cold frame measuring 3x6 feet. For small 

 seedlings I made boxes four laths wide and two laths 

 high, and as long as the window sash, so that they 

 would rest on the bar in the middle of the window 

 and the top of the sash. If you wished, the side 

 next the room could be covered with cretonne or 

 painted some dark color, and then filled with the 



