440 



NEW ENGLAND FARMER. 



Sept. 



during winter. In selecting these carpets get only 

 the well-hardened and thickly painted — such as 

 are stout and stiff— all others are soon defaced. 

 Varnish them immediately after they are Lid ; 

 and, if they are sulijected to much wear, varnish 

 them every spring. For these, as for painted 

 floors, use cheap copal varnish (quite thin — nearly 

 as limpid as water) which must be thoroughly 

 dried before the floor is walked upon, — a week is 

 none too long to devote to this. 



When procuring a painted carpet, if possible, 

 get it in one piece large enough to cover the floor ; 

 because no matter how closely the edges of widths 

 meet they will eventually wear away. If of sev- 

 eral breadths the selvage must be cut away with a 

 sharp knife, u -ing a yardstick or rule to cut it per- 

 fectly \straii;ht — and the figures matched at the 

 meeting of the breadths (they must never be 

 lapped) so that the design Is complete. This car- 

 pet should lie upon the floor without tacking; yet 

 wh< n made of a number of pieces, where there is 

 much stepping, it is sometimes necessary to tack 

 each at short intervals ; but the less the better, and 

 tinned tacks only should be used, as these do not 

 rust. 



A neat and nice summer carpet is the Canton 

 rn'Attixii:— commonly C3d\ed straw carpeti7ig. It does 

 not retain dust, is very easily swept, and is so 

 cool and clean it should be on the floors of all 

 bedrooms during warm weather; on account of 

 these good qualities it is particularly desirable for 

 the carpet of an invalid's room. It is apt to get 

 brittle and t) wear away about a hot stove or reg- 

 ister in cold weather, but if a piece of painted car- 

 pet — lined by pasting thick brown piper to its 

 wrong Side — is laid where there is fear of this, it 

 will remain strong and whole for years. The 

 tinned tacks should fasten this to the floor — the 

 breadths meeting closely. They should be cut 

 long enough to be turned under an inch and a half 

 at each end. This may be overcast with thread; 

 binding tears away, and a hem is too clumsy. 



A cheap and pretty covering for a chamber floor, 

 or a staircase that is little used, is bright-colored 

 wail papi r, — one of low price and neat design ; 

 block or chain-work, or leafy and flowery patterns 

 on a stone or day colored ground, are most suita- 

 ble for this purpose. Cut and paste the breadths 

 as for a wall, adding half as much glue directly 

 to the paste as would be used for making glue 

 water for the wall. The second day after it is 

 pasted upon the floor varnish it as you would a 

 painted carpet. It is better to varnish it twice, 

 and then treat it in every respect as a painted 

 carpet. 



A cheap and tolerably strong carpet for com- 

 mon rooms is the Scotch or hemp carpeting. But 

 don't buy a cotton carpet, or a cotton and wool, or 

 a very low priced all wool ; for the wool is sure to 

 be shoddy, and the cotton fades very quickly, so 

 that even witu the greatest care, they look dingy 

 and mean in a very short time. A home-made one 



of rugs is a great deal better and handsomer. If 

 you cannot have that, content yourself with a few 

 rags or mats of your own manufacture till you 

 can afford a good ingrain woollen one, which, if of 

 soft, wool and well woven, is the most durable that 

 can be bought. 



The only advantage which a three-ply has over 

 an ingrain is the greater variety of colors and 

 figures which its style of weaving admits; but one 

 of its plys is apt to wear off soon, and that gives 

 the carpet a shabby look, and the pattern does not 

 look well on both sides — as is usually the case 

 with the pattern of an ingrain or two-ply — besides 

 being much more expensive than that. A nice 

 American ingrain carpet is handsome enough and 

 good enough for any American home; but if wo- 

 men have more money than they know what to do 

 with, they can buy tapestry and velvet; which, 

 beautiful as they may be, require such careful 

 usage to retain their good looks, even when of the 

 very best of Brussels and Axminster, that it U 

 much wiser to be satisfied with an ingrain and put, 

 the surplus money into pictures for the walls. 



In laying carpets it is well to remember that 

 small figures, which require the webs to be fre- 

 quently united, — thus tacking them together as it 

 were — are a means of strengthening the fabric. 

 They also give a neat appearance to a room, while 

 seeming to enlarge it. And light colors— such as 

 drab, light stone or buff— with white and light 

 green, and a very little red, maroon, dark green 

 or black — are most suitable for a floor that must 

 be subjected to litter and dust. While browns, 

 scarlets, crimsons, greens and other dark colors, 

 with little or no admixture of lighter colors or 

 white, should not be chosen for an apartment that 

 is in constant use, unless one is willing to keep a 

 dust-pan and broom constantly in hand. Blues 

 and purples are miserable colors for a carpet. All 

 the shades of brown are excellent; so are the yel- 

 low-greens ; and the scarlet reds ; and the corn- 

 colored buffs. 



Before cutting a carpet, having ascertained the 

 number of breadths needed to cover the floor, be 

 sure that the figures of each seam are so laid to- 

 gether that they will be correctly joined ; as it fre- 

 quently happens that by unequal weaving some 

 breadths having on!(y the same number of figures 

 vary greatly in length. Then cut them long 

 enough to make a double hem half an inch wide 

 at each end. Hem these as soon as possible after 

 they are cut with stiong linen thread, well waxed. 

 Then on the wrong side of the carpet, fasten to- 

 gether, with two or three stitches at every figure 

 of the seam, the selvages of the two breadths. 

 To sew these seams use the strongest of linen 

 toread, stiffened with beeswax. Begin by fasten- 

 ing the thread at the right hand ertl of the seam. 

 Then for t-be first stitch bring the needle towards 

 you by passing it uuder the two outer threads of 

 the selvage of the breadth next you ; for the sec- 

 ond stitch pass the needle under the same of the 



