6 GREENHOUSE CONSTRUCTION AND HEATING. 
thoroughly efficient yet inexpensive houses is what I propose 
to show my readers in the course of the present work. 
The cheap ready-made greenhouses now so largely 
advertised and sold are in many cases very useful and 
even creditable little structures, and thousands of them 
are in use all over the country. I have frequently seen 
excellent results obtained with houses of this class, and 
often under the most unlikely conditions, but this is only 
to be accomplished by means of constant attention and 
care, which to a great extent compensate for lack of skill, 
or of superior appliances. But as a rule, these little 
structures are better adapted for use as conservatories— 
that is to say, places for preserving plants in—than for 
actual growing purposes, and their form, size, and general 
construction are frequently far from being the most 
suitable for the particular purpose or position intended. 
As I have already stated, anyone with a knack of 
carpentering, etc., and not afraid of a little hard work, 
can put up a larger and altogether better and more 
useful structure in this way, by performing the greater 
part of the labour himself, for a much less cost than 
a ready-made house would run to, and in these days, 
when most of us want to make our money go as far as 
possible, this is an important consideration. 
But supposing a greenhouse of some kind, larger or 
smaller, to have been erected, or purchased, it will be of 
comparatively little use for the culture of tender plants 
(except, of course, during the summer months, from May 
till September) unless heated in some way. And to 
accomplish this also in an economical and yet thoroughly 
satisfactory manner is often nearly, if not quite, as 
