324 HOW TO MAKE A COUNTRY PLACE 



Wrought iron boilers lose their efficiency through formation of scale, 

 especially if the cellar is damp an entirely unnecessary evil. Cast 

 iron boilers are better in this respect, but we are losers in both health 

 and money when we allow dampness, that insidious foe, to get the 

 upper hand. 



If windows exceed one-eighth of the wall area, the heating plant 

 must be proportionately larger. Lack of care in setting window and 

 door frames, a very common error, increases heating expense. 



Trim. 



Trim covers a wide latitude. Narrow trim is often more effec- 

 tive than wide and thin. One extreme is a thick trim, scarcely wider 

 than a narrow picture frame. A very satisfactory door and window 

 trim is an ogee curve mitred at corners. Care must be taken that 

 this form of molding should be exceptionally well kiln dried, as 

 joints will more readily show and require greater skill in mitreing. 

 Plain work is preferable as a rule to elaborate beading, which is 

 another dust gatherer. 



Fumed and chemically eaten wood are both suitable for a den. 



In boudoir or drawing room the intarsiatura work of the Fif- 

 teenth Century in door casing and window head or a combination of 

 jig-saw and hand chisel work is satisfactory, and can be made to 

 closely imitate carving. Plain trim is preferable for servants' quar- 

 ters, kitchen, and laundry. 



In main rooms without wainscot, baseboards eighteen inches 

 high add in appearance more than the difference in cost, and give 

 the ample base plug space which good work demands. Where style 

 of room allows, the Colonial dental may edge beam and cornice, but 

 the square set corner block formerly used to cover joints should be 

 omitted and trim mitred in one of the several methods now in use. 



We found that the carpenters, especially in cabinet work, set- 

 ting up trim and building in stairs, made better mitres and closer- 

 knit joints during the clear atmosphere of fall and winter than in 

 damp spring or muggy, moisture-laden dog-days. 



The temptation to apply to indoor uses material appropriate only 

 for exteriors, as exampled in a shingled interior wall and mantel 

 hood, rough bouldered stone partition, or a wooden latticed wall in 

 a billiard room, should be conquered. Beside being in questionable 

 taste, they are dust collectors of the rankest kind. 



Closets and bays make good safety valves for ugly square box- 

 like rooms, and the former are excellent noise barriers. If rooms are 

 connected, doors each side of and flush with separating partition solve 

 the noise difficulty. 



A second story windowed trunk closet sometimes saves steps and 

 dented stair and hall. 



