March, 1913 



AMERICAN HOMES AND GARDENS 



XI 



ARTIFICIAL EBONY FROM OAK 

 WOOD 



CONSUL WILLIAM H. HUNT, St. 

 Etienne, France, describes the following 

 as a good process for converting oak wood 

 to artificial ebony: The blocks of wood are 

 immersed for forty-eight hours in a warm 

 saturated solution of alum and sprinkled 

 several times with a decoction of logwood ; 

 smaller pieces may also be steeped for a 

 certain length of time in the decoction, 

 which is prepared in the following manner*. 

 One part of logwood of best quality is boiled 

 with ten parts of water ; it is then filtered 

 through linen and the liquid evaporated at 

 low temperature until its volume is reduced 

 by one-half, and to every quart of this bath 

 are added ten to fifteen drops of a saturated 

 solution of soluble indigo entirely neutral 

 in reaction. After having watered the 

 blocks several times with this solution, the 

 wood is rubbed with a saturated and filtered 

 solution of verdigris in warm joncentrated 

 acetic acid, and this operation repeated un- 

 til a dark color of the desired intensity is 

 obtained. The oak wood dyed after this 

 fashion presents an aspect similar to that 

 of real ebonv. 



THE CITY OF THE FUTURE 



IN an address to an international town- 

 planning conference abroad, M. Eugene 

 Henard, the municipal architect of Paris, 

 has given a forecast of what the ideal city 

 of the future will be like, as reported by 

 Harper's Weekly. 



According to M. Henard, light and 

 energy will be conveyed by electricity. 

 Gasoline and oxygen will supply heat. 

 Liquid air will maintain refrigeration in 

 every larder. In addition to heat radiators, 

 there will be "cold radiators" which will 

 enable every house to be kept at the re- 

 quired temperature in Summer. 



By this power it will be possible to pro- 

 vide in each house one or more health 

 chambers closed by close-fitting double 

 windows and doors in which the over- 

 worked occupant on his return from town 

 will find all the hygenic conditions which 

 he can now obtain only by taking an annual 

 holiday. 



Glass verandas of various shapes joined 

 together and with covered footpaths, ac- 

 cording to standard models, will shelter 

 pedestrians against rain, and the normal 

 height of buildings will be exactly the 

 width of the street. The roofs of houses 

 will be platforms upon which small flower- 

 beds and verdant shrubberies can be laid 

 out. as they will be landing-stages for 

 aeroplanes. 



When this progress shall have been ac- 

 complished the physiognomy of towns will 

 be changed. All terraces will have become 

 landing-stages for flying automobiles. 

 Aviators will be able to fly from one terrace 

 to another, starting and landing as they 

 please. The natural consequence of this 

 new state of things will be that each build- 

 ing will have to be furnished with big 

 elevators capable of raising machines and 

 taking them back to the garage on their re- 

 turn. Houses of this description will also 

 be used to house motor-cars. 



Finally, the town of the future will be 

 traversed by large radiatmg thorough fares 

 occupied partly by raised platforms con- 

 tinually moving, which will insure rapkl 

 communication between the different zones. 

 These platforms will be terminated by large- 

 revolving crossways at the intersection of 

 the main roads. Large parks and flower 

 gardens as residences and pleasure resorts 

 will be laid out in various parts of the 

 town. 



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