HOW r GARDENED. 



741 



as shown at j. Each compound bar is drilled 

 through at the center. Ten or more such com- 

 pound bars are strung together loosely upon a rod, 

 which is secured to a fixed support. A stirrup 

 formed of two rods and two cross-pieces rests upon 

 the upper compound bar and passes upward through 

 the support. Above the support it is connected by 

 a link with a sector lever which engages a pinion 

 on the pivot of the index. The use to which the 

 thermostat is to be applied will determine its size 

 and construction. It may be used in connection 

 with kilns and ovens and for operating dampers, 

 valves and electric switches. 



' We made our thermostat with three springs only 

 and hung it on the outside of the sash in front of 

 the ventilator at a cost less than one dollar for the 

 material. By means of bell-cranks and rods it was 

 connected with the valve and caused it to open and 

 close. 



" From our experience last winter it would seem 



that a thermostat and ventilator taken from the top 

 of an ordinary incubator can be made to ventilate 

 about 100 square feet of glass through December 

 and January and about 50 square feet in more sunny 

 months up to April ist. Two sash ventilators in 

 an 1 8 -foot house would be sufficient, one for dark 

 months and one for lighter months. The large valve 

 we used in March was too large for December, Jan- 

 uary and February. There seems to be no reason 

 why such ventilators cannot be procured from the 

 makers of incubators, and be used in greenhouses, 

 giving one ventilator to carry 100 square feet of 

 glass. Of course, the makers of incubators could 

 supply larger ones by simply making new patterns 

 for their ventilators and valves, and using the same 

 thermostat and fittings." 



Following up Mr. Barnard's most interesting 

 achievements, the editor of the Garden is also ex- 

 perimenting with automatic ventilation, and some 

 account of the results may be expected next month. 



HOW I GARDENED. 



BY HELEN A. STEINHAUER. 



CHAPTER I. 



IKE Mrs. Gummidge, 

 of plaintive memory, 

 ' ' I am a lone, lorn 

 critter," but, unlike 

 her, I am not a wid- 

 ow. Rupert is an 

 abiding presence in 

 my home ; but, dear 

 heart ! when the 

 highest aspiration of 

 of the man of the 

 house is to look pretty and play his flute, the only 

 thing he ever was known even to attempt doing, is 

 it a wonder if the feminine head of the house oc- 

 casionally feels lone and lorn in view of the fact 

 that she has to be " captain, mate and crew " turn 

 about and all in one ? 



Still it was with a fair amount of courage that I, this 

 spring, attacked the garden. 



We had not tried to have any last year, but when, at 

 the end of the season, I had to pay our green-grocer's 

 bill out of my pen-money, I, who have to do all the tug- 

 ging and stretching at both ends to make them meet, 

 tljought that this year we had better raise our own veg- 

 etables. 



Rupert manifesting his usual unconcern, I went ahead 

 in my womanish way. Night after night I pored over 

 catalogues, while he petted his flute. At length I made 



out a list from the. to me, most attractive catalogue, viz. : 

 that which was daintiest and most artistic in its make- 

 up, and which promised the most tempting noxelties. 



Potatoes were ruled out of the list, as neither of us 

 care for them, and I well knew that I should, single- 

 handed, have to care for the potato-bugs. 



Cabbage neither of us ate ; ditto beets, turnips, car- 

 rots, parsnips, etc. If I turned gardener I would have 

 the things I liked best, and plenty of them, I inly re- 

 solved. So down went sweet corn, pop corn, sugar peas, 

 winter and summer squash (all of the most marvelous 

 and enticing varieties), Tomhannock lettuce, White 

 London mustard, curly cress, round-leaved spinach, 

 large-leaved dandelion (I so love greens !), also vine- 

 peach and ground-cherry, "which no garden should be 

 without," and salsify for use in early spring. Of the 

 new tomatoes, I selected the Golden Fig, Peach and 

 German Raisin. Russian cucumbers I must have for 

 salad ; early radish-onions for eating raw and pickling ; 

 also egg-plant and White Velvet okra to remind me of my 

 native south. 



At this stage I fancied I saw Rupert fixedly eye my 

 lengthening list, although fingering his flute as usual, 

 and, also as usual, saying never a word. So, as I my- 

 self thought I had about all I could well cultivate, 1 

 merely added some of the extraordinary fruits, such as 

 everbearing blackberry trees, tree currants, Japanese 

 wine-berries, Russian everbearing mulberries, with a 

 few melon pears of Pepino, Japan pears, and new Rus- 

 sian apricots; also some Mammoth dewberries and one 

 Chinese quince. 



