16 



THE GARDEN MAGAZINE 



February, 1906 



The growing plants give a (ouch of welcome life in 

 the depth of winter 



preen house; moreover, they exactly fitted 

 each other and the window in question, so 

 the problem was practically solved. 



By means of four long screws on a side I 

 fastened the two narrow sashes to the window 

 frame at the exact places where the vertical 

 edges of the regular storm sash belonged — 

 only they were at right angles to the wall of 

 the house, projecting into space. The regu- 

 lar storm sash was now screwed to the outer 

 edges of the two sashes already in place and 

 behold, without any cutting or fitting of any 

 kind I had three glass walls enclosing my 

 window — forming a generous space, ideally 

 lighted, requiring only a top and bottom to 

 make a splendid window conservatory. 



For a bottom I simply nailed half-inch 

 boards to the bottom of the three sashes and 

 held it in place by two oak brackets (made 

 from old bed slats). For the top I cut two 

 tapering boards and fitted them to the top 

 edges of the side sashes so that when the half- 

 inch boards were nailed across them for a 

 roof it had a pitch and overhanging eaves 

 sufficient to shed any kind of weather. 



Before moving in, I made both the roof 

 and the floor waterproof, and warmer, too, 

 by tacking some old rubber floor matting to 

 the half-inch boards. On the roof I easily 

 made a tight joint with the house by continu- 

 ing the rubber back and up under the bottom 

 of the first clapboard. 



Three six-inch shelves were placed across 

 both side sashes by means of five-inch brack- 

 ets. When still more room was necessary, 

 additional 6-inch shelves were laid across 

 the front with their ends resting on the first 

 set. This provided three complete tiers 

 of shelves running around the three sides of 

 the conservatory. 



Without crowding we could manage about 

 seventy-five pots and pans of various sizes. 

 We were able to have a continuous series of 

 bloom from mid November until spring 

 weather lured us out to our garden again. 

 Our tulips, crocuses, hyacinths, freesias, etc., 



were a continuous delight to us and the envy 

 of our friends. 



Until really severe weather we were easily 

 able to regulate the temperature by partially 

 opening or closing the window — which formed 

 the fourth wall of the conservatory. How- 

 ever, as zero weather approached, the warmth 

 from the dining room proved inadequate and 

 other means of maintaining the requisite 

 temperature to keep the plants growing were 

 found to be necessary, 



A MINIATURE FURNACE 



I ran a three-eighth-inch pipe from the 

 natural gas main in the cellar through the 

 cellar window and up through the bottom of 

 the conservatory, ending in an ordinary gas 

 burner. This gave plenty of heat but the 

 fumes from the gas proved objectionable. 

 Various kinds of burners were tried in suc- 

 cession, but all had to be discarded for the 

 same reason. 



After considerable thought I hit upon the 

 following scheme, which served the purpose 

 admirably : 



For $2.25 I purchased a tiny gas stove 

 which I placed on the cellar floor directly 

 below the cellar window under the conserva- 



tory; I ran a short smoke pipe to the nearest 

 chimney-opening in order to dispose of the 

 fumes. A nearby tinsmith made to my 

 dimensions a galvanized iron hood which 

 fitted down over and completely enclosed the 

 stove. It had a number of one-inch holes 

 along its bottom edges for circulation, and 

 a sliding door for access to the stove. Its 

 top was drawn up to form a collar about 

 eight inches in diameter. From this collar 

 I ran an eight-inch flue straight up, then 

 slanting up, out through the cellar window 

 (from which a pane had been removed), then 

 up again to where it ended at a 5 x 7 inch 

 register set into the floor of the conservatory. 

 Of course the flue was enclosed in a wooden 

 box or outer flue for insulation throughout 

 its entire length outdoors. 



This formed virtually a miniature hot-air 

 furnace. The tiniest flame warmed the 

 stove, which in turn warmed the air enclosed 

 in the galvanized hood. This warm air 

 flowed up the pipe through the register and 

 gave our plants just what they needed — pure, 

 moist, warm air. The apparatus worked 

 perfectly from the first, the supply of heat 

 was easily regulated and the furnace gave 

 off neither odors nor dirt. 



S 



The conservatory is built on the outside of an unused doorwav and acts also as an efficient storm box. It 

 is ten feet high, seven feet long and five feet wide. Cost complete $30 



