The Readers’ Service will give you 
information about motor boats 
How To BUILD A GREENHOUSE 
Some facts about their Equip- 
ment—Method of Heating 
and Ventilating—and how 
to avoid excessive repairs 
In [ves are four vital points that must be 
considered in building and equipping a 
greenhouse—that is, if you would be 
saved from useless expenditures, and have the 
pleasure and reward of its being a compensating 
success, and not an out and out expense. 
Lightness, endurance, perfect ventilation con- 
trol and absolutely dependable heating are the 
four essentials. 
A greenhouse must be constructed in such a 
skilful way that there shall be the least possible 
frame work to cast shade, and the greatest amount 
of glass to allow the light and sunshine to reach 
the plants. 
Then there is the taking care of the condensa- 
tion inside the house, and provision must be made 
to carry it off, not only because you don’t want 
it dipping down your neck, but wherever it set- 
tles in the joints, decay at once begins. It is the 
most destructive thing that greenhouse builders 
have to contend against, and one about which 
the ordinary builder knows practically nothing. 
Upon the perfect control of ventilation depends 
much, both in preventing mildew on your roses 
and giving to the various plants just the right 
amount of air to keep them hard and blooming 
freely. 
You know what an inconvenience and annoy- 
ance balky heating is in a dwelling, but in a 
greenhouse it means absolute disaster if your 
plants get either chilled or sweated out; so here 
again is a necessity for accurate knowledge. 
All this may sound very hard and discouraging 
to one who has been dreaming of putting up a 
house of his own—but there is a way out—a 
way that costs no more in the end, than the gro- 
tesque, home-made affairs that always limit you 
to growing the less light-exacting kinds of plants 
or such course, sturdy varieties as can best com- 
bat against continued conditions of handicap. 
We will erect the house complete for you, or if 
you want to have the work done by your local 
mechanic, then send to us for the materials. 
When you receive our materials consisting of 
various wood and iron parts they will be already 
cut and fitted, holes drilled, bolts, screws, hinges, 
putty, everything furnished ready for immediate 
erection, even to the first coat of paint, and 
enough additional sent along for two more coats 
after the house is finished. These materials are 
exactly the same thing, made identically the same 
way, as furnished by us for the immense growing 
houses of the florists, and have the same finish 
and attractiveness of the ornamental houses that 
we put up in such numbers on private estates, 
park, or institution grounds. 
Along with these materials we will send you 
complete erection directions. Now with every 
part ready to go right into place, nothing is 
likely to go wrong. 
The heating, if left to us, is guaranteed to be 
perfect, and we will install a special greenhouse 
boiler that will run long periods without any at- 
tention, and still keep the uniform temperature 
desired, and do it economically. 
The ventilating apparatus is supplied with the 
materials. : 
The benches are made of either cypress or iron 
according to what you feel like expending. 
When your house is finished think what you 
have: it will be an attractive, thoroughly made 
house free from constantly recurring repairs; one 
that is so skilfully constructed that you can grow 
any plant, no matter how difficult. You can have 
as profuse results as the florist, or equal the 
specimen plants and blooms of the gardeners. 
You will have a house that is so carefully de- 
signed and thoroughly made that if you wish, it 
can be effectively joined directly to your dwelling 
with the delight of having all the fun of a garden 
spot only a step from the dinner table. 
But if you don’t feel to spend the money for a 
greenhouse that is a greenhouse, then by all means 
don’t put your money into a make-shift affair. 
Buy cold frames, and they will better answer 
your purpose until you can build right. A two 
sash frame complete, covering 36 square feet, costs 
only $14.50, and is a necessary adjunct to your 
future greenhouse—a logical expenditure you 
see. 
If you want a good greenhouse that costs com- 
paratively little, send for circular No. 57, which 
gives full information and is freely illustrated. 
On the other hand, if you think cold frames 
will have,to answer for the present, send for the 
Two P booklet, which tells of Cold Frame Pleas- 
ures and Profits, and how to get started. 
You should get busy at once to be ready for 
next winter’s need. 
Lord and Burnham Co. 
Main Sales Office 
1133 Broadway NEW YORK 
PHILADELPHIA 
BOSTON 
819 Tremont Bldg. 1215 Filbert St. 
THE GARDEN MAGAZINE 
AveustT, 1908 
The Oldest Flowers in Culuwationt 
V.—The Prickly Pear 
ORE than a score of species of 
Opuntia are called prickly pears 
and eaten by the natives in Mexico, but 
the best species are the Indian fig and 
the tuna. The name “Indian fig” was 
doubtless given to it by the early Spanish 
explorers at the time when America was 
supposed to be connected with India. It 
generally has larger fruits than the tuna, 
with fewer and smaller spines. The fruits 
are commonly yellow and are often three or 
four inches long. They ripen from June to 
December in Mexico. The choicest varie- 
ties are grown in Sicily, where the peasants 
live almost entirely on this fruit from July 
to November. The bristles are usually 
removed before the fruit is picked by rub- 
bing them with straw, grass, or leaves. 
The tuna makes a more formidable hedge 
A gigantic tub plant grown from a single joint of 
the prickly pear or Indian fig 
plant and is commonly planted in the arid 
regions of Mexico for a defensive hedge. 
Its fruits are brightly colored and remain 
on the plants a long time after ripening, so 
that the hedges are more attractive in fruit 
than in flower. 
Both these species were early taken home 
by the Spaniards and soon overran the 
Mediterranean region, escaping from culti- 
vation and becoming troublesome weeds. 
In South Africa they have become a serious. 
menace to agriculture and grazing. 
The accompanying picture is reduced 
from one in the “Hortus Eystettensis,” 
a book published in 1613, which described 
the garden of the Prince of Eystadt in 
