292 AROUND THE YEAR IN THE GARDEN 



things to do is to arrange things so that the space to be 

 used for flowers, — great or small as the case may be — ^may 

 be cut off from the rest of the living-room or porch. This 

 partition does not have to be either air-tight or permanent, 

 but the tighter the better. One simple plan is to arrange 

 fairly heavy curtains, reaching from ceihng to floor, which 

 may be drawn at will to shut the plants in by themselves. 

 Light doors, made largely of glass, have the advantage 

 over curtains that the plants can still be seen and enjoyed 

 while the doors are shut. 



Two Simply Made Window Gardens 



Where no such ready-made advantage as the above is at 

 hand, and nothing as ambitious as a small conservatory 

 can be attempted, the garden may be placed wholly or 

 partly outside of the window or windows by constructing 

 a miniature glass "lean-to" on the outside, supported by 

 suitably strong brackets attached to the house. I have 

 seen several very ingenious forms of the little winter gardens, 

 which afford all the conditions required quite perfectly 

 where there are but a limited number of plants to be grown. 

 Two of the simplest were constructed as follows. 



The first was formed of a standard cold-frame sash and 

 two narrow storm windows. The latter were secured to the 

 sides of the window, on the outside, so that they stood out at 

 right angles, and the sash was screwed firmly to these, thus 

 making a glass box outside of the window. Top and bottom 

 were then added, the latter being given slant enough to 

 carry off water and melting snow. (Ordinary plowed and 

 matched ceiling boards, covered with a high grade of roofing 

 paper, answer this purpose, the roofing paper being brought 

 in under one layer of clapboards or shingles, to get a tight 

 joint.) A pane of glass removed from one of the storm- 

 window sides, and replaced by a light wooden frame of 

 the same size, on hinges, furnished sufficient ventilation. 

 Ordinarily the living room suppHed enough heat, but a 

 kerosene lamp, placed in a metal box for safety, gave ex- 



