GREENHOUSE AND HOTHOUSE FLOWERS 143 



into certain lengths by machinery and the houses put together 

 with so many screws, by men who do nothing else, in a given 

 time. The amount of skilled manual labour put into them is 

 very small. It is on all fours with the making of cheap bicycles 

 and cheap books, for which special machinery is devised. It is 

 certainly the fact that greenhouses can be bought at a cost of 

 about ten shillings per foot run, and further, that these houses 

 are quite capable of sheltering plants ; but the purchaser does not 

 get either a substantial or an elaborately finished article. It is 

 severely plain and practical. It is a glass-house corresponding 

 with the long streets of small, five-roomed terrace houses which 

 spring up in all our large industrial towns, with the exception of 

 those in which the tenement or flat system is in vogue. It is 

 scarcely necessary to say that the home builder cannot build 

 cheaper than he can buy while such rates as rule now are in force. 

 He may be able to build better if he is a skilled mechanic, but 

 that is all. Unless he has considerable mechanical knowledge he 

 will be well advised to leave home building alone, for it will 

 probably cost a great deal more than buying a finished house, and 

 be no better. 



The machine-made cheap greenhouse is built in sections, which 

 are sent out under numbers, so that they can be easily and quickly 

 put together by any one who knows how to twist a screw-driver 

 round. The frames are generally sent unglazed, to avoid risk of 

 injury in transit, and the requisite amount of glass, cut to fit, is 

 forwarded separately. It is called a "tenant-right" structure, but 

 it loses that character if it is nailed to a wall, or attached to 

 mortared brickwork. If attached to a wall (when such attach- 

 ment is necessary) by screws, and mounted on unmortared bricks, 

 it is removable at will, but not otherwise. 



There must not be a great deal of brickwork employed, or the 

 ten shillings per foot rate will be speedily exceeded, and there 

 need not be. One layer of loose bricks, resting on a firm, level 



