232 MAKING OF A FLOWER GARDEN 



the cheese boxes are made affords little chance for 

 solid work. 



The top and bottom being in place, the ornamental 

 part of the house will be next in order. A very- 

 pretty finish is made by securing a strip of round 

 wood an inch or a trifle more in diameter — a window 

 shade roller will do — ^and saw it into length exactly 

 that of the space between the top and bottom boards 

 and nail these in place, forming a pillared portico or 

 veranda about the house. The window pole is now 

 inserted into the holes provided for it and three small 

 iron or wooden brackets attached to the part that ex- 

 tends above the house, nailing them to the top and to 

 the pole, which should have some ornamental heading 

 to finish it. Three larger brackets finish the under 

 part of the box. The whole should then be given a 

 coat of dark green paint — ^the green used for outside 

 window blinds wears best-— and the trimming, pil- 

 lars, perches, brackets and pole should be painted 

 white. The free end of the pole should then be 

 fitted into an iron water pipe about eight or ten feet 

 long and this set in a socket in the ground. An old 

 well cylinder set in concrete makes an excellent socket 

 and by this installation the pole can be easily lifted 

 out to clean the house each spring. Ten-room houses 

 are constructed in the same way by using the double 

 cheese boxes, putting in partitions half the depth of 

 the box, fitting a round piece of wood over these and 



