AMERICAN HOMES AND GARDENS 



January, 1913 



THE BEAUTY OF 

 SNOW -LADEN EVERGREENS 



THESE wintry days when other vegetation has cast 

 aside its graceful draperies, the Conifers in their uni- 

 forms of beautiful green, stand vigilant, watchful, 

 guarding for us pleasant memories of summers past, the 

 pledge of bright days to come again. Evergreens, beauti- 

 ful at all times, seem loveliest in the winter sunlight, covered 

 with a mantle of snow, radiant with icy crystals. 



If you would enjoy the beauty of Evergreens, now is 

 the time to inspect your grounds and order for spring 

 planting, Surely you will find room for a few Evergreens 

 or other ornamental trees or plants. In making your 

 selection, remember that our 800 acres in nurseries enable 

 us to meet your requirements to the fullest extent. 59 

 years of specializing on all that pertains to Horticulture 

 accounts for our pre-eminence in this field. Our Land- 

 scape Department is well equipped for efficient service 

 to customers. Water-color sketches, planting plans and 

 full estimates furnished. Correspondence or personal 

 interviews solicited. Don't put this matter off until the 

 rush of spring is upon us. 



Full information furnished as to the best plans for commercial 

 orchards, and the best fruits of all kinds for the home garden. Cata- 

 logue or handbook of varieties, and instructions for planting, pruning 

 and after-management on request. 



HOOPES BROS. & THOMAS COMPANY 



Dept. A, West Chester, Pa. 

 Philadelphia Office, Room 202, Stephen Girard Building 



Landscape Gardening 



Everyone interested in suburban and 

 country life should know about the 

 home study courses in Horticulture, 

 Floriculture, Landscape Gardening, etc., 

 which we offer under Prof. Craig and others 

 of the Department of Horticulture of Cornell 

 University, 



250-page Catalogue Free Write to-day 



Prof. Craig 



THE HOME CORRESPONDENCE SCHOOL 

 Dept. A. H. Springfield, Mass. 



Hill's Evergreens Grow 





Beautify your home. Plant Hill Evergreens. 

 We are evergreen specialists, not only in grow- 

 ing but in planting artistic effects, Prices low- 

 est — quality considered. Don't risk failure— 

 Get Hill's Free Evergreen Book. Write today. 

 Expert advice Free! 



| D. Hill NurseiyUo. Inc., Evergreen Specialists 

 261 Cedar Street, Dundee, III. 



\jT— ' 



w The Stephenson System of 

 Underground Refuse Disposal 



Saves the battering of your 

 cans and scattering of garbage 

 from pounding out frozen contents. 



Underground 



Garbage and Refuse Receivers 



A fireproof and sanitary disposal of ashes and 



refuse in front of your heater. 



Our Underground Earth Closet 



means freedom from frozen cesspool con- 

 nections, a necessity without sewers. 



Nine years on the market. It pays 

 to look us up. 



Sold direct. Send for circular 



C. H. STEPHENSON, Mfr. 

 21 Farrar St. Lynn, Mass, 



RUSSIAN GOLD-LEAF INDUSTRY 



THE center of the gold-leaf industry in 

 Russia is at Moscow, although the leaf 

 is also produced at St. Petersburg and in 

 the Province of Kaluga. The annual out- 

 put of this industry in .Moscow, where there 

 are five large establishments and a nuinher 

 of smaller ones, is said to reach a value 

 of $500,000. According to information 

 given the United States Consulate General 

 by local manufacturers there are about 

 1,000 employees in the Moscow factories— 

 600 adult males, 300 boys and 100 females. 

 The wages range from $"20 to $25 per 

 month for adult males, $5 to $10 for boys, 

 and $8 to $15 for females. The booklets 

 used are generally four by eight inches and 

 contain sixty leaves of gold. The booklets 

 and the gold are imported principally from 

 Germany, although some are manufactured 

 here. The molds are of three sizes, 14, 15^ 

 and 17 centimeters (5.51, G.10 and 6.69 

 inches, respectively). The prices of the 

 gold booklets vary from $1 to $3, depend- 

 ing entirely upon the amount of gold in the 

 leaf. The methods used for preparing the 

 gold are the Russian and the German. By 

 the Russian method the gold is worked into 

 rather thin ribbons, which are cut into 

 pieces and placed between sheets of specially 

 prepared skins (the sheating of cattle 

 livers). The sheets (called molds) are 

 placed together into book shape, 240 in a 

 book, and several pieces of gold are laid 

 in the center of every other sheet. The 

 book is then inserted into a closely fitting 

 leather case, which is placed upon a granite 

 block and hammered. Under the blows of 

 a hammer weighing two to five pounds the 

 gold expands until it occupies the entire 

 surface of the skin (mold). If it be de- 

 sired to make the leaves thinner, they are 

 cut in two, and the half leaves are again 

 placed between the sheets of prepared skin 

 and hammered until they attain the full 

 size of the skin. This process can be re- 

 peated twice. The skins are dried, and 

 stained with certain coloring matter. The 

 gold used in the Russian process is com- 

 paratively pure, and the molds are of 

 domestic manufacture. 



INSECT METAL BORERS 



ACCORDING to a writer in Zur Guten 

 Stunde, the following account is given 

 of an insect that can bore through metal. 



"Any one can hear it buzzing in the pine 

 woods in mid-Summer, or perhaps see the 

 flash of its yellow wings. Sircx gigas is 

 its formidable scientific name, but we know 

 it simply as the horntailed wasp. This wasp 

 bores into the tree in various places with 

 its long tail, and in each hole leaves an 

 egg. The ensuing larva, a white, six-legged 

 grub, fitted with powerful jaws, takes up 

 the work of boring into the wood, and as 

 it advances closes the passage behind it with 

 the sawdust. If uninterrupted, the larva 

 continues boring deeper and deeper into the 

 tree, and since it is of course growing all 

 the time, it makes a bigger and bigger 

 passage. 



After about two years, it makes its 

 cocoon of silk in the burrow ; then, after 

 the pupal skin is cast off, the winged insect 

 breaks through its cocoon. Immediately, 

 with feverish haste, it begins boring toward 

 liberty. Finally it reaches the bark of the 

 tree, and then the open air. 



It is often the case that during the hard 

 larval period the tree in which the horn- 

 tailed wasp is burrowing may be felled, 

 sawed into planks and used in building 

 operations. Sometimes, for some particular 

 purpose, the timber may be encased in a 



1913 

 Catalog 



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Wilson's Outside Venetians 



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Send for Venetian Catalogue No. 5 



Jas. G. Wilson Mfg. Co. , 5 West 29th Street, New York 



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sen 



WE wish to call attention to the fact that 

 we are in a position to render com- 

 petent services in every branch of 

 patent or trade-mark work. Our staff is 

 composed of mechanical, electrical and 

 chemical experts, thoroughly trained to pre- 

 pare and prosecute all patent applications, 

 irrespective of the complex nature of the 

 subject matter involved, or of the specialized, 

 technical, or scientific knowledge required 

 therefor. 



We are prepared to render opinions as 

 to validity or infringement of patents, or 

 with regard to conflicts arising in trade- 

 mark and unfair competition matters. 



We also have associates throughout the 

 world, who assist in the prosecution of 

 patent and trade-mark applications filed 

 in all countries foreign to the United 

 States. 



MUNN & CO., 

 Patent Attorneys, 

 361 Broadway, 



New York, N. Y. 



Branch Office : 

 625 F Street, N. W. 



Washington, D. C. 



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