INDOOR GARDENS 113 



garden at Glen Ridge, N. J.! (See plate 48.) Fancy a room 

 about fifteen feet square, with real grass for a floor, and a border 

 of earth out of which grow bulbs, shrubs, and even young mag- 

 nolia trees as naturally as out-of-doors. There is no hot, steam- 

 ing atmosphere and there are no artificial benches or narrow 

 concrete walks. You may walk on the lawn as freely as out- 

 doors or sit in a chair upon the grass and listen to the birds singing 

 overhead, while you look out through the glass sides of the living 

 room upon a world of snow! No wonder this is the most popular 

 living room in the house! And to think that all this can be had 

 for only $1,000 or $1,500! 



"Very fine," you may say, "but what has England to do with 

 all this?" 



"Nothing at all," is my cheerful reply. England may have 

 a great many important lessons to teach us about greenhouses. 

 If so, I missed them all. In manners and customs and all the 

 externals of life the two countries are steadily growing farther 

 apart. In every department of gardening England's message to 

 us is: "Do not copy the beauties of other countries; study your 

 own needs and adapt your own materials to those needs." 



England's greenhouse problems were three: to raise th best 

 fruit, to harmonize the greenhouse with existing architecture, and 

 to perfect the small, cheap greenhouse so that everybody could 

 have one. Those problems she has solved. 



Our great job, it seems to me, is to develop the idea of iiv-. 

 ability in greenhouses. The American people are "long" on 

 ingenuity and "short" on repose. We work harder and longer 

 than Europeans and, therefore, we need something in addition to 

 active sports. We need to relax. There is no relaxation in the 

 ordinary greenhouse. One merely wanders through it with a 



