WINTER PROTECTION 199 



may not intrude upon the living room floor, or by 

 the construction of a shallow groove at this poiat, 

 connected with the outside of the house so as to 

 carry off any surplus moisture. For, while we are 

 not planning to convert the bay window into an 

 aquatic garden, we do want to make it possible to 

 spray the occupants of the bay thoroughly over, under 

 and through their foliage and, no matter with how 

 fine a spray this is done, more or less water will 

 trickle to the floor. Of course the floor must be cov- 

 ered with some waterproof material, tile, cement or 

 even linoleum, but if this can be arranged, it is al- 

 most safe to say that one may make a success of 

 almost any variety of plants one wishes to grow, 

 provided there is the proper amount of sunshine and 

 even ordinary care. 



We hear a great deal about coal stoves and fur- 

 naces being uncongenial sources of heat, and that 

 plants will not thrive where gas is used. I do not 

 agree with this theory in its entirety. I have grown 

 the most delicate flowers successfully in rooms heated 

 with an ordinary coal stove by giving them abundant 

 room to grow, warm south and east windows and 

 showering them thoroughly every day or two, I have 

 also had excellent success with furnace heated rooms, 

 but in this case the furnace used contained a very 

 large and effective water pan in which the water was 



