A Winter Garden For $20.70- By Sadie w. Fenton, 



Indiana 



MY HEALTH has been restored 

 by playing with a winter gar- 

 den. I was run down by two 

 years of hard work as a pro- 

 fessional nurse. I made this winter garden 

 for $20.70 without having steam or furnace 

 heat. 



Now, to begin with, remember prices of 

 materials differ in various localities. If, 

 like myself, you live near a large city where 

 there are house wreckers, you may reduce 

 the cost of the building by obtaining your 

 material from them. But select for yourself 

 all material and examine the sash and doors 

 to see that no part is beginning to decay. 

 If possible obtain glass doors or those 

 with upper sash. If the wrecker's lumber 

 is not comparatively new, I advise getting 

 new lumber rather than to use any appear- 

 ing weather-worn, for on this your sash 

 and glass must rest. Often improved 

 houses are razed to obtain a site for a sky- 

 scraper, and thus renders obtainable almost 

 new material. 



We decided to build a lean-to on the 

 south side of the house against the outside 

 wall of the dining room, from which we 

 could remove the window and door. 

 Through these apertures we thought suffic- 

 ient heat would pass from the stove for 

 moderately warm days. As the window 

 did not extend to the floor in that end, we 

 placed a large nickel lamp there when we 

 retired at night. 



However, we had not counted on ex- 

 tremely cold weather, and we were com- 

 pelled to keep the dining room uncomfort- 

 ably hot in order to maintain the proper 

 temperature for forcing blossoms if not 

 for growth. 



We wanted blossoms in December, that 

 bleakest of months, and we had them, too, 



This little lean-to furnishes flowers in winter and 

 plants for early setting outdoors 



in abundance. Even one of the currant 

 bushes which I started from cuttings in 

 the fall bloomed in December. Fancy 

 that to you are being wafted the odors of 

 our lilies, hyacinths, tulips, violets, freesias 

 (dearest of bulbous flowers), also a climb- 

 ing sweet jasmine which covers half the 

 wall and enjoy all with us! 



The palms, ferns, caladiums, rubber 

 plants, grape fruit and cactus not only 

 produce an exotic and tropical appearance 

 but lend an air of superiority over the 

 smaller and more unassuming plants. 



Having no chimney into which we could 

 run a stove pipe and not wishing to build 

 one for experimental purposes, we ques- 

 tioned the feasibility of trying a coal heater. 

 "Where would you run out the pipe?" we 

 asked a brick mason. "You could remove 

 a pane of glass and have a small chimney 

 built outside," he replied. I sent him 

 away; his advice was too expensive. I then 

 determined to solve the problem myself. 



When the family learned what I pro- 

 posed they handed me various "funny- 

 graphs," e. g.: "The Fenton Heating 

 System. No pipes to freeze up with the 

 thermometer down to 'freezo.' No send- 

 ing the men folks down cellar at midnight 

 to fire up. Patent applied for." 



Any one can have a tinner cut a hole 

 in the drum of a sheetiron stove and insert 

 a capped pipe in it which will carry the 

 heat to any kind of a metal radiator or 

 drum which one may happen to have, 

 thus making a mighty cheap heating plant 

 and a mighty satisfactory one. In my 

 case the drum was taken from a discarded 

 washing machine. (Now laugh.) I have 

 laughed every time I have looked at it; 

 to think that I accomplished, with what I 

 happened to have, just as much as others 

 did who spent so much for heating plants. 



One pane of glass in the rear door had 

 a 6-inch crack in a lower corner, circular 

 in shape. We had a tinner cut a 6-inch 

 hole in a sheet of galvanized tin. This I 

 nailed outside the door with the hole in 

 the tin, over the hole in the glass, having 

 knocked out the cracked corner with the 

 hammer. The pipe passes through the 

 hole in the door and rests on wires which 

 are stapled each side of the pipe to the 

 scantling. Sufficient moisture is furnished 

 by occasional spraying, and a pan of water 

 on the stove. 



We dug the trench and built the wall 

 (foundation) of bricks abandoned when the 

 asphalt improvements were made. The 

 four large sashes and door I selected from 

 about 500 in some house wrecker's yards 

 in the large city twenty-five miles away 

 from my home at Aurora, Ind. 



We plant only the choicest seeds avail- 

 able, and each spring are busy transplanting 

 into paper and paste-board pots (home 

 made), also tin cans and cereal boxes, so 

 that the plants will not be disturbed when 

 the frost has left the ground. 



181 



Crowded? Ye — s, but when the bulbs 

 are through blooming they will be tipped 

 into a box of soil and placed near a cellar 

 window till it's time to dry them off. 



We did not build a floor for I wanted to 

 use the earth floor for sinking paper boxes 

 of soil, near the bottom of which are 

 planted sweet peas, which in the spring 

 will be lifted and placed along the wire 

 fence. These will bloom before those 

 planted outside, and both will be preceded 

 by those in the winter garden which are 

 now two feet tall. Our Giant Dwarf 

 tomato plants are sturdy looking youngsters 

 and with the cucumbers to be potted the 

 whole sunny side of the house will be con- 

 verted into a temporary garden to accom- 

 modate the plants. There will be propa- 

 gating to do also in the spring, as I expect 

 to increase the contents of my little 

 " winter garden " from my outdoor garden 

 plants. 



It certainly has paid. Even the canary 

 bird thinks so, and when the pet bird is 

 happy the whole family is happier. 



The expense was about as follows: 



Four sash and one-door $ 4 . 00 



Freight _ .35 



Roof strips 1 . 00 



Roof glass 6.00 



Lumber 7.00 



Stove pipe 1 . 10 



Putty and staples .50 



Cement .50 



Drayage . . .25 



Stove (we had) 



$20. 70 



To this add a little cost for paint, for 

 in the spring the whole house is to be 

 painted some color against which vines 

 and roses will show to advantage. 



A make-shift heating arrangement but it worked! 

 And that's the test after aU 



