INGENUITY AND LUXURY 



Makers of furniture discovered, centuries ago, the 

 art of veneering a process of facing a piece of fur- 

 niture made of cheap wood with a thin covering of 

 expensive wood, so that the finished piece would have 

 every appearance of a piece made throughout of the 

 expensive wood. A similar process is used by con- 

 crete-block makers, of facing their blocks made of 

 coarse, porous material, with an outer layer of fine, 

 damp-proof concrete, colored "to suit the taste." 

 The difference between this facing of concrete blocks, 

 and veneered wood, lies in the fact that the facing of 

 the concrete block becomes an integral part of the 

 block itself, and is not simply a part fastened on by 

 a different medium, such as the glue that holds the veneer 

 to the wood beneath. Neither is it necessary that the 

 material used in the body of the block be inferior in 

 the essential qualities of strength and durability, but 

 only in cost, appearance, and permeability, all of 

 which may be corrected by the facing. A concrete 

 made with a relatively low percentage of cement and 

 a high percentage of sand and broken rock may be 

 made strong enough and durable enough for even the 

 most exacting purposes. It will lack the beauty and 

 the moisture-resisting qualities of the finer article, 

 but will have an enormous advantage in cheapness. 

 In most places where concrete is used, the artistic 

 appearance, and porosity, need not be considered; 

 but in such positions as the fronts of buildings both 

 these qualities are essential. To make the entire 

 thickness of the block of high-percentage mixture ("fat 

 mixtures," they are called), where special grades of 



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