XXV111 



AMERICAN HOMES AND GARDENS 



April, 1913 



MEN HELP WOMEN By Inventing 



labor saving devices for them and modern and progressive household 

 sanitation demands that housekeepers use a Vacuum Cleaner. 



Of the numerous vacuum devices on the market WHICH TO CHOOSE perplexes you. 



11/ -^ C1AHF 



May be Tried 



at Our Risk 



Stf^SWEEPER and Expense 



TO PROVE TO YOU that THE REEVES is the most easily operated 

 and most efficient hand power vacuum cleaner made — TO PROVE that it 

 will do your sweeping with absolute thoroughness and in one-third the time taken 

 by a broom — 



We Make This Offer Send us your check or P-O order for $5.00 and we wil 



■ at once send you a Reeves Suction Sweeper. We ask 



you to use it for thirty days and if you are dissatisfied FOR ANY REASON WHATEVER 

 please send it back — we pay express charges both ways. Your money will be refunded 

 without question or argument. 

 Why pay a big price when this inexpensive but substantial sweeper will do the work ? 



Send postal for interesting circular 



THE REEVES VACUUM CLEANER COMPANY, - 53 Broad Street, Milford, Conn. 



New Edition — Just Published 



The New Building Estimator 



By WILLIAM ARTHUR 



A practical guide to estimating the cost of labor 

 and material in building construction from excavation 

 to finish, with various practical examples of work 

 presented in detail and with labor figured chiefly in 

 hours and quantities. 



A handbook for architects, builders, contractors, 

 appraisers, engineers, superintendents and draftsmen. 



The eleventh revised and enlarged edition, just 

 published, has been reset throughout and gives 

 the latest prices. It contains 50"o more matter than 

 the previous edition. 



Price $3.00 postpaid 



MUNN & CO., Inc. 



361 Broadway New York, N. Y. 



Size — 5 x 7 inches 



744 pages. Illustrated. 



Flexible Leather. 



Gilt Edges. 



"A properly de- 

 signed and well 

 planned Pergola is 

 the finishing touch 

 to the architectural 

 and landscape per- 

 fection of elaborate 

 grounds — it is the 

 one thing needful to 

 confirm the artistic 

 character of a mod- 

 est home. 



Our Pergola Al- 

 bum A 28, just is- 

 sued, contains 48 

 large pages devoted 

 to the illustration 

 and description of 

 Pergolas, Sunrooms 

 and other garden 

 accessories in their 

 adaptations to every 

 requirement of land- 

 scape work. Same 

 will be sent on 

 request. 



HARTMANN-SANDERS COMPANY 



Manufacturers of 

 KOLL'S PATENT 



LOCK JOINT COLUMNS 



Elston and Webster Avenues 

 Chicago, Illinois 



Suitable for 

 PERGOLAS, PORCHES AND 



INTERIOR WORK 



Eastern Office 

 1123 Broadway New York City 



ONIONS AND ROMANCE 



ONIONS and romance, on second 

 thought, may not be so utterly incon- 

 gruous as they sound at first. There is a 

 pretty web of legendary romance woven 

 about almost every vegetable and flower 

 that grows — even the onion. It may not en- 

 hance the market value of peas and beets 

 to know the traditional lore in which they 

 figure, it mav not save our cabbages from 

 cutworms to be aware that the man in the 

 moon was there for stealing his neighbor's 

 cabbages on Christmas Eve, it may not 

 make Roses and Lilies smell the sweeter nor 

 give Violets and Hyacinths a more regal hue 

 to have learned all the fanciful stories that 

 centuries of poetic imagination have heaped 

 around them, but of one thing we may be 

 sure. This curious knowledge — and for 

 some reason such things seem always to 

 stick in one's brain — will increase our 

 thought and regard for whatever living 

 thing it may be connected with and that is 

 well ; in the second place it gives those same 

 plants a distinctive personality in our eyes 

 and that is better ; lastly, it feeds and stim- 

 ulates our own imagination and that is best 

 of all. Dive into the plant lore books some 

 day and browse around and see what an 

 entertaining time you will have besides get- 

 ting the opportunity to feel superior to 

 your prosaic neighbor who doesn't know 

 anything about such matters. 



And now, you say, what has all this to 

 do with the home or garden? This. There 

 are few of us who do not go about a good 

 deal in places where there are many beau- 

 tiful things to be seen — things that might 

 give us suggestions for the adornment of 

 our own houses and gardens. The man 

 who stands on his hind legs and looks out 

 of his eyes is the man who is going to 

 absorb ideas that must eventually bear 

 fruit. Why not cultivate this faculty and 

 press it into the service of home and garden 

 improvement ? Little things count for much 

 and it is the little things we should train 

 ourselves to see. It may be a pretty trifle 

 that we can turn to good account for some 

 daily household use, or it may be a method 

 of garden arrangement that has never oc- 

 curred to us, or perhaps some flower or 

 shrub we are not familiar with. At any 

 rate why not keep eyes wide open, ever 

 on the lookout for some new thing that we 

 may advantageously add to our present 

 eouipment? Interchange of ideas has been 

 the motive power of civilization, but inter- 

 change of ideas can take place through eyes 

 as well as ears. 



PISTACHIO NUT CROP 



THE Aleppo pistachio nut is considered 

 of a superior quality to that of Aintab, 

 and the quantity thereof being limited, it 

 is consumed almost entirely on the spot. 

 The demand for pistachios from the United 

 States is increasing rapidly. Last year the 

 shipment to tl.at country exceeded $100,000. 

 While the other countries purchase the 

 pistachio nut unshelled, or shelled without 

 any preparation, American buyers ask gen- 

 erally salted and roasted pistachios, packed 

 in soldered tins. 



THE GREEN TARNISH ON LEAD 

 PIPES 



TO remove green tarnish from lead pipes 

 and connections in bath rooms, employ 

 a strong solution of yellow ammonium sul- 

 phide. This is harmless, and after its ap- 

 plication the pipes should be made sightly 

 bv polishing with a dry cloth. 



