OB, HOW I BECAME A FLORIST. 65 



is at an end. And my mignonnette too, that will be destroyed 

 also. It is paying me twenty cents a day, and perhaps, to- 

 morrow it will be dead. And my tuberoses also, what can 

 I do with them ? I can put them in my windows, but all I 

 shall get for them will not support me for more than two 

 weeks. And what then? Really I wish I had a green- 

 house. Wonder what they do cost ? I'll consult Mr. 

 Rand on the point. Opening the book I read the entire 

 first chapter. Then I shut the volume, and made up my 

 mind on the spot, I will build a greenhouse. The next 

 thing was action. No time must be lost, if I wished to have 

 the house ready before winter set in. I cast about for au- 

 thorities on the subject. The books I had read through 

 long ago, and I had a very tolerable idea of the different 

 styles of horticultural structures. Woman-like, I first 

 consulted a woman, Miss Sampson. She was at first 

 frightened at the boldness of my schemes. Yet she gave 

 me a helping hand, and advised my visiting some of the best 

 greenhouses in the neighborhood, and see for myself their 

 cost, and the advantages of the different patterns. 



I followed her hint at once, and, taking the cars, went to 

 Massawatamie Highlands, and in the course of the day visited 

 three different establishments. The first consisted of two 

 enormous lean-to houses, several hundred feet in length. 

 (By a lean-to, I found they meant a house having but one 

 sloping glass roof, facing the south, and with covered sheds 

 on the north side.) On entering I found a broad walk, 



