252 
The Garden Magazine, June, 1920 
Then on my birthday morning, Jim turned about and took 
me out to the greenhouse — and there, against the brick wall at 
its far end (where 1 had noticed some bagging hanging for several 
weeks) was a Cherokee Rose in bloom! That dear boy had 
sent down home for it, and the Captain had nursed it along; 
under my nose, without ever letting me know — telling me tales 
about a draught from that side, to account for the stuff that 
hid it. Oh — the sight and the smell of that blessed Cherokee 
Rose! 
THE CAPTAIN AND I HATCH A CONSPIRACY 
But the little greenhouse was draughty and leaky and on 
very cold nights the Captain would 
have to stay up half the time. And 
the slugs, which he couldn’t get 
rid of because of the half decayed 
boards in the benches, spoiled many 
of his small plants, and kept him 
about distracted altogether. And 
1 knew that the Captain wanted — 
and the Captain knew that I wanted 
— a new and a bigger greenhouse. 
The first time 1 hinted, ever so 
carefully, at such a possibility how- 
ever, Jim shook his head. Just the 
night before though he had been 
talking about buying a power-boat 
in the spring that would cost quite 
as much as the greenhouse. You 
'see he didn’t really care greatly — ' 
yet — about flowers; but he wanted our place “ kept up”, just as 
the former owner had had it. And he told the Captain to go 
ahead and order the plants that would be needed to do this; 
and that gave me the idea! 
If we were going to spend a lot of money fixing up the place 
every spring, and considerable more for fresh vegetables in the 
winter, it seemed to me that 1 ought to be able to make that 
new greenhouse earn itself — not make any money of course, 
but make it save so much that it would look like what Jim 
calls a mighty good “buy.” And when 1 suggested that to the 
Captain, he jumped at it! 
WHAT WE GOT OUT OF AN l8 X 25 FT. HOUSE 
So we set to work in dead earnest! And we filled the place 
with seedlings and cuttings, putting up shelves and brackets 
on the posts of the old house and hanging brackets from the 
sash bars, to make room. Furthermore, we did not forget to 
plant Beans and Cauliflower and Lettuce — and later, Cucum- 
bers and Tomatoes; just a tantalizing taste of each, to make 
Jim hungry for more. 
And after everything was done and our place so bedecked with 
flowers that nearly everyone 
who passed stopped to look 
or exclaim over it, I counted 
up everything in my little 
green record book. And 
here are the totals of what 
we had raised: — 628 Gera- 
niums; 344 Petunias; 138 
Heliotrope; 500 Pansies; 
300 Salvias; 225 Ageratum; 
210 Lobelias; 223 Zinnias; 
90 Snapdragons; 200 Pinks; 
i2oCannas; 175 Phlox; 44 
Fuchsias; 110 Daisies; 150 
Marigolds; 80 Calendulas; 
36 Castor-oil Beans; 200 
Coleus; 80 Stocks; 36 Sweet 
Sultans; 80 Cosmos; 48 Sal- 
piglossis; 48 Dahlias; 100 
Kenilworth Ivy; 30 Re- 
plants; 24 Canary-bird Vine; 12 Cobea scandens; and 18 
Oxalis. 
THE CONVINCEMENT OF JAMES 
And in addition to these flowers, we had all the vegetables 
we wanted for a good sized garden! — quite an achievement. 
Of course, without the Captain’s skill and resourcefulness, 
it would not have been possible. It was really wonderful, the 
way he kept one lot of things coming on after another, right 
through until the last Dahlias and Begonias were set out in 
June. Even Jim became quite enthusiastic and took a personal 
interest. And when 1 finally showed him in dollars and cents 
what the Christmas plants, and the 
cut flowers (not counting those for 
his office where the Captain had sent 
a box daily all winter, Jim’s secre- 
tary cooperating by putting them 
on his desk and not telling where 
they came from) and the bedding 
and vegetable plants for our spring 
garden, amounted to, he was very 
frankly surprised. 
“We have to pay the Captain’s 
wages during the winter anyway,” 
I put in, while he pondered over 
my proposal for a new and larger 
house, “he might as well be grow- 
ing vegetables and flowers for us 
then, as in the summer.” 
“ But how about the boat? We 
can’t do everything at once!” 
“The boat” 1 returned, “we would use maybe twice a week 
for three or four months in the year. The greenhouse we’d en- 
joy three hundred and sixty-five days in the year.” 
“But the coal!” This was his last ditch — and I was ready 
for him there too. 
“We have had to use more to heat this small, leaky, poor 
little house, than we’d need for a modern one twice its size. 
Here are the figures, if you want to see.” 
He glanced them over and capitulated very graciously, and 
gracefully too, 1 must say. But that’s Jim all over. “ Well,” 
said he, “I suppose we can keep the old house for a cool grapery.” 
That was two months ago. To-day they got the new boiler in. 
And in just a few days more, I’ll have the keys to my new, real 
sunshine kingdom! Already the benches are half filled with 
Carnation plants, ’Mums, and Roses to be budded, and Toma- 
toes for fall; and instead of dreading the next northern winter 
I honestly can hardly wait for it, whenever 1 look into the place! 
And Jim is about as eager too, for his interest in flowers has 
grown with the house, until now he knows their names and helps 
me check up on things and is altogether getting to be a regular 
gardener. 
When I survey the whole 
thing generally, I am moved 
to wonder just how 1 should 
be feeling now about living 
in theNorth if it had not been 
for this greenhouse; and to 
wonder why people don’t in- 
vest some of the money that 
goes to sanataria in these 
health giving, life giving, 
miracle working glass won- 
derlands — for even in sum- 
mer it is a fascinating place, 
and 1 find myself wandering 
out on a rainy day to look at 
the plants and to watch the 
rain plashing upon the trans- 
parent roof ; for it makes rain 
seem so different. 
THE OLD GREENHOUSE WAS PICTURESQUE 
And sentiment will always cling to it since it was in 
one sense an initiation as well as a breath of home 
BUT THE NEW ONE DETRACTS NOT AT ALL 
Closely joined to the original structure at right angles, its roof 
lines are good and its interior a veritable houseful of sunlight 
