VI 



AMERICAN HOMES AND GARDENS 



November, 1913 



*47£s 



1913 



Economy of the Bell System 



Consider this significant fact: 

 While most of the necessaries of life 

 have gone up, the price of telephone 

 service, which is one of the essential 

 factors in our commercial and social 

 life, has moved steadily downward. 



Although a pound of these neces- 

 sities still contains but sixteen 

 ounces, the telephone user has been 

 getting more and more service for 

 less money. 



On the average, the people of this 

 country pay 49% more today for 

 food, fuel and clothing than they did 

 in 1895. Since then, the decrease in 

 the average rates for telephone ser- 

 vice has been more than one-half. 



At the same time, the efficiency 

 and value of the service to the sub- 

 scriber has vastly increased. Today 

 he can talk to an average of five 

 times as many persons in each 

 exchange as he could eighteen 

 years ago. 



This is the inevitable result of the 

 comprehensive policy of the Bell 

 System, which brings together the 

 associated Bell companies and the 

 communities they serve. 



Through the very size and effi- 

 ciency of their organization they 

 accomplish improvements and effect 

 economies which give the greatest 

 service at the lowest rates. 



American Telephone and Telegraph Company 



And Associated Companies 



One Policy One System Universal Service 



Tindale Music Cabinets 



Keep your music clean and in good order and where 

 you can find each piece when you want it. Really 

 a delight to lovers of music. 



Style E as illustrated has a capacity of 700 pieces. Oak $25. 

 Mahogany $29. Other styles from #15 up. 



Call and see a demonstration of these cabinets or send for Folio 

 of Designs No. 19. 



TINDALE CABINET COMPANY 



Century Building 

 One West 34th Street New York 



For Beautiful Homes 



SEE THESE TWO NEW PLAN BOOKS. 



"The DRAUGHTSMAN" % "PLAN-KRAFT" 



For one story homes. 9 For two story hornet. 

 1913 editions, contain exteriors and interiors of ad- 

 vanced designs of homes featuring the new modifi- 

 ed Swiss Chalet and Japanese Architecture. 

 PRICE 2SC EACH POSTPAID 

 DE LUXE BUILDING CO. 

 523-D Union League Building. Los Angeles, Cal. 



NOVEMBER GARDEN NOTES FOR 

 THE PACIFIC COAST 



By J. V. TUTTLE 



SOME friends coming from the Eastern 

 states to visit in California expected to 

 see all the trees green the year around. 

 Deciduous trees shed their leaves here in 

 Winter the same as in New York and 

 Pennsylvania, but we have such a wealth 

 of wonderfully beautiful Evergreen trees 

 that we get the year around beauty for 

 which our state is noted. It is due almost 

 as much to the Evergreen trees planted 

 about our homes as to the mild climate 

 that makes our Winters attractive. 



There are hundreds of homes here, how- 

 ever, that do not experience the joy and 

 satisfaction in possessing a useful collection 

 of Evergreens. Xow is the time to plant — 

 to make your home a real home, a year- 

 around home. 



There are so many useful trees that may 

 be planted this month, that it is difficult to 

 know which to recommend. Perhaps the 

 best advice is — "Plant those varieties that 

 you have seen and like." That's the way I 

 decide. We must make our homes to our 

 own taste for we are the ones who should 

 benefit. 



Several of the Evergreens that may 

 be planted this month are charactei istic of 

 California. The Blue Gum, Eucalyptus 

 globulus, with its novel bark which it sheds 

 instead of the gorgeous leaves ; the Cali- 

 fornia Live Oaks, Quercus agrifolia, with 

 its writhing, spreading branches covered 

 with holly-like leaves and furnishing Per- 

 ennial shade on lawn or avenue ; the Cali- 

 fornia Big Tree, Sequoia gigantea, famous 

 for its great size and perfect symmetry — 

 these are the characteristic Evergreens of 

 the state and where there is opportunity, 

 one or more of them should be planted. 



Then there are the flowering Acacias 

 that are loaded with bright yellow bloom 

 early in Spring and covered with narrow 

 compound leaves gorgeous the year through. 

 One of these on the lawn or in a group 

 gives a Spring welcome and a monthly satis- 

 faction similar to no other evergreen. 



The Cedar of Lebanon, the Norway 

 Spruce, the Colorado Blue Spruce, the 

 Scotch Pine, and Goven's Cypress are won- 

 derfully effective in a group planted in the 

 corner of the lot or along the boundary. 



In planting Evergreens, remember this 

 one caution — -"Don't plant too many." 

 Leave space for your lawn. Don't crowd 

 it into a tiny pocket between banks of trees, 

 and don't cut it into a jig-saw puzzle by 

 planting miscellaneous specimens of trees 

 or shrubs or by arranging flower beds in 

 various parts of it. 



Once again I want to say, "Don't plant 

 too much." Don't try to run a botanical 

 museum on a small acreage that was in- 

 tended for a home. Make every piece fit 

 into the landscape as every stone in an arch 

 fits into the completed semi-circle. 



Of the Evergreen shrubs that should be 

 ordered from the nursery now, there are 

 some that are valuable the whole year, and 

 others that, although green all of the 

 twelve months, are really at their best only 

 at blooming time. 



The Spanish Broom is one of these latter. 

 In Spring it bursts into a veritable furnace 

 of yellow bloom, but when the petals have 

 faded the limbs have a bareness that makes 

 the owner who has planted it in front of the 

 house wish that it could be moved out of 

 sight till next blooming time. The way to 

 settle the problem is to nestle the Spanish 

 Broom in the bosom of a shrubbery group 

 that is made up of the Holly Berry, Heter- 

 omeles arbutifolia, Japanese Privet, Ligus- 



