File:American homes and gardens (1910) (18158877611).jpg

Title: American homes and gardens
Identifier: americanhomesgar71910newy (find matches)
Year: 1905 (1900s)
Authors:
Subjects: Architecture, Domestic; Landscape gardening
Publisher: New York : Munn and Co
Contributing Library: Smithsonian Libraries
Digitizing Sponsor: Biodiversity Heritage Library

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November, 1910 AMERICAN HOMES AND GARDENS IX
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The Editor of American Homes And Gardens desiies to extend an invitation to all its readers to send to the Conespondence Department inquiries on any matter pertaining to the decorating and furnishing of the home and to the developing of the home grounds. All letters accompanied by return postage will be answered promptly by mail. Replies that are of general benefit will be published in this Department Problems in Home Furnishing By ALICE M. KELLOGG THE "DAISY FIELD" BORDER (4X TOTICING in a descriptive article 1^ in your magazine for February, an illustration of a room with a picture border showing a field of daisies, I write to inquire for some particulars. Where and by whom is this border made? Would it be appropriate in a small recep- tion room with a nine foot ceiling? What kind of paper would you suggest below the frieze? How could pictures be used?"— L. K. E., Trenton, N. J. The picture border referred to was made by Birge & Company, of Builalo, a few years ago, and is not now on the market. While there are similar decorations to be had. they would not suit a room of rather small dimensions, giving a closed-in efifect instead of the more desirable appearance of space. As a border of this kind is really a continued picture it would be unwise to further decorate the walls with framed pictures. The most pleasing tone for a reception room of limited size is champagne printed in two shades of either the glazed or matt surface. Mahogany looks well with this color, and figured brocades, tap- estries and moquettes will contribute a variation of color and design. Pictures, too, would lend an interest to a room that is too often stiff and unattractive. INEXPENSIVE FLOOR COVERING A correspondent who is slowly acquiring Oriental rugs for her home (Mrs. M. F. J., of Indiana) asks for some inexpensive floor covering for bedrooms until the time comes to lay hardwood floors. Ingrain carpet in plain covers laid over a lining paper makes a neat and attractive foundation for small rugs. The carpet costs about ninety cents a yard, the lining paper ten cents a yard. With the flowered papers on gray grounds so much in vogue for bedrooms now, the gray filling would be an appropriate choice. With yellow- flowered papers, or green and blue color- ings, an oak-toned filling could be used, and green, with pink and violet papers. While the possession of Oriental rugs in meritorious designs and harmonious colors is an advantage to the home maker, there is much to be said for our own do- mestic rugs which this season show a marked advance, artistically, over former years. IDEA FOR A WINDOW SEAT An "Apartment Dweller," has a peculiar problem in her sitting-room, for which she asks a solution. "The only windows in this room," she writes, "are in the form of a bay—a wide center window, with a nar- row one at each side. The recess is fitted with a seat, but this is twenty inches from the floor, and with a cushion of the usual height it would be impossible for comfort. Then, too, our apartment is on the twelfth floor and with the windows open it seems a perilous place for a person to attempt to sit. Would you leave it bare ? Or can you suggest any way to bring it into some kind of usefulness aside from a sitting place?" With the conditions described, the built in seat may have a small handwoven rug laid across the top, and a jardinere hold- ing a foliage plant placed in the center. This will leave a space at either side on which books or magazines, sewing basket or smoker's tray may be kept. INGLE NOOK IN A CLUB HOUSE It has occurred to one of the committee on furnishing a Country Club house that the space around the cozy fireplace in the main room could be arranged for informal companies of ladies. This suggestion came through studying the illustration of ingle- nooks in American Homes and Gardens, but some further information has been asked for, to carry out the idea. The angle of wall at each side of the fireplace may have a corner settle with a shelf along the top for holding some pieces of copper and brass. If the seats are boxed in they will make a useful receptacle for holding firewood. A "nest" of tables may be kept near the seats and a special low stand be in readiness for the tea- service. Two comfortable arm-chairs, a fireside rug, and seat pillows will complete the inglenook furnishings. A positive fac- tor in the success of the inglenook is the coloring of the stationary fittings— fireplace facing and hearthstones, wood fin- ish and lighting fixtures—which should har- monize with the tones in the curtains, pil- low covers, rugs and wall decorations. A DIFFICULT WINDOW Three windows in a library are arranged in such a way as to make the problem of their curtaining more than ordinarily diffi- cult. These windows are described as be- ing close together but divided by six inches of woodwork. "The middle window," writes this correspondent (Mrs. T. R. E., of Ohio), "is forty-five inches wide, and those at either side are thirty inches wide. Above these windows are stationary tran- soms of colored glass in dark uninteresting colors. Now, I do not know if it is better to treat the transoms and windows as one entire window or as separate features. As the library is on the front of the house, I shall use thin net curtains over the glass to correspond with the other windows, but would like some suggestion for an over curtain for the winter months." The best way to treat a window of this kind is to have a straight valance to cover the transoms, and hang two curtains under it, one at each side. If the material is to show a pattern it will not need any trim- ming. If a plain material is used, a tap- estry border should be sewn along the lower edge of the valance and down the inner sides and across the bottom of the long curtains. Garden Work About the Home By CHARLES DOWNING LAY KEEPING TENDER PLANTS THROUGH THE WINTER CL. R. asks several questions about keeping tender plants through the * winter. The best way for you to keep dahlia roots through the winter is to put them in boxes of sand in the cellar or in sand on the cellar floor. The sand keeps them from drying out too much. If the cellar is warm and very dry it may be advisable to water them once or twice during the winter and a covering of coal ashes two or three inches thick on top of the sand would keep the sand moist for a longer time. Celery should be buried in sand or earth in a cool cellar or it may be buried outdoors, but it is better to have it in the cellar. Gladioli bulbs can be allowed to dry out, but should be kept from freezing. Cannas. tube roses, and other tender bulbs should be taken up as soon as the tops are killed by frost and treated as directed for dahlias. The hardest part of growing bulbs in the house in winter is to keep them in a proper place before they are ready to be brought to the light. In the city it is almost impossible to keep pans of tulip in just the right condition, because city cellars are almost always too warm and too dry. Sometimes the pans can be put on the floor of the cold closet and covered com- pletely with the buckwheat chaff that the bulbs come in, or with coal ashes. A layer of newspapers on top of the chaft' or ashes will still further prevent evaporation and will keep out frost if the room is very cold. The pans must be looked at and watered at least once a month in any case. The ideal root cellar has an earth floor and on that anything can be kept in good condition. Tender hydrangeas in tubs should be kept moist and not too cold. A little frost will not hurt them as much as dryness, so if the cellar is dry see that they are watered frec;uently. GROWING SHRUBS AND TREES FROM SEED We are pleased to hear another echo of our suggestions, published two years ago in American Homes and Gardens, about propagating trees and shrubs cheaply. This time our correspondent wants to know about raising them from seed. Any tree or shrub except the freak hor- ticultural varieties can be raised from seed. but it is not always the easiest way, though I think in every case it is the cheapest The seed should be gathered as soon as it is ripe, freed from its pulpy envelope or from its pod and planted at once in row.^ in a seed bed. Some seeds, as the hawthorns, do not germinate for two years but most of them will come up the first spring and be readv to transplant the second. This year there is a large crop of white pine seeds and as they only bear abun- dantly once in six or eight years this will be a particularly favorable time for grow-

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