AMERICAN HOMES AND GARDENS 



December, 191 3 



Poultry, f tt 

 Stmtarg 



G. D. TILLEY, Naturalist 



' 'Everything in the Bird line from a 

 Canary to an Ostrich 



For Christmas Gifts 



Singing 



Canaries 



Piping 



Bullfinches 



Talking 



Parrots 



G. D. TILLEY DARIEN, CONN. 



Trial Three Months, over 300 pages, Ten Cents 



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Superior, Nebraska, U. S. A. 



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cracked wheat, cracked corn and millet seed 

 are relished, and sprouted oats make an ex- 

 cellent green food when there is no grass. 

 Altogether, the raising of guineas is a 

 simple matter when the nature of the breed 

 is considered, and the young birds provide 

 a table delicacy not easily equalled. If all 

 the eggs are not needed for incubation, 

 they may be used for cooking, for they are 

 very rich. And the usefulness of the 

 guinea to the garden maker should not be 

 overlooked in giving this bird its due. 



BLACK 



FIRE-PROOF 

 VARNISH 



STOVE 



GILSONITEor asphalt, copal and lin- 

 seed oil, with the addition of some 

 thickened wood oil, make according to 

 Technische Rundschau, excellent stove var- 

 nish, the temperature and duration of burn- 

 ing-in increasing with the proportion of oil. 

 For practical recipes, price and the temper- 

 ature at which burning-in is to be effected 

 are prescribed and this governs the com- 

 position. As a rule, compositions of gil- 

 sonite, stearine, pitch, Manila copal, hard- 

 ened rosin and wood oil are used, for in- 

 stance, 25 parts gilsonite, 3 parts stearine 

 pitch, 3 parts Manila copal melted, 5 parts 

 hardened rosin, 10 parts of wood oil (thick 

 oil boiled with litharge and manganese), 5 

 parts pine tar, 10 parts of oil siccative. The 

 composition is thinned to brushing or drip- 

 ping consistency with sangajol, and is said to 

 furnish a good stove varnish. Silver: 10 

 parts of melted Manila copal, 8 parts thick 

 oil (from linseed oil), 3 parts aluminum 

 bronze, addition of oil of turpentine until 

 of painting consistency. White: Dammar 

 and thick oil, thinned with benzine and 

 zinc-white added. Stove temperature 60 

 deg. Cent. (140 deg. Fahr.). 



SPROUTED OATS FOR CATS 



SEVERAL owners of valuable Persian 

 cats have borrowed a leaf from the note 

 book of the chicken fanciers and are grow- 

 ing sprouted oats for their pets. All lovers 

 of cats know that the animals eagerly eat 

 grass in Summer, but many people do not 

 realize that something fresh and green is 

 almost a necessity for them, keeping them 

 in good condition and serving to carry away 

 the hair balls which collect in the stomachs 

 of all cats, but particularly those with long 

 coats. 



Sprouted oats have solved the problem 

 of keeping cats which must be closely con- 

 fined, supplied with something tender and 

 green and of which they are fond. If a 

 box of sprouts an inch to three or four 

 inches long is placed where the cats can 

 have access to it at any and all times, there 

 will be no farther need of dosing them with 

 olive oil or of feeding them sardines in 

 order that they may swallow the oil in which 

 the fish are packed. 



Sprouting the oats is a very simple mat- 

 ter. Two or three quarts may be put in 

 a pail of warm water and soaked for 

 twenty-four hours. Then they should be 

 spread an inch deep in a shallow tray or 

 box, having a few holes bored in the bot- 

 tom for drainage. The box should be kept 

 in a warm room or in a heated cellar and 

 covered with a grain bag or old quilt. Every 

 night and morning water should be 

 sprinkled over the oats, wetting them thor- 

 oughly. It is better to use a watering can 

 than to turn the water from a dipper or 

 pitcher, as then the oats are not washed 

 about. One plan is to place a piece of 

 burlap or bagging on the grain and turn the 



water on that, so that it will soak through 

 without disturbing the oats. 



In a few days the oats will sprout and 

 begin to throw up tiny blades. Then the 

 covering should be removed so that the 

 blades will be green, but the watering should 

 be continued. Little care need be exercised 

 in applying water after the oats start to 

 grow, for the roots will make a solid mat. 

 Squares may be cut from this mat when 

 the sprouts are large enough or the box 

 itself may be moved into the room oc- 

 cupied by the cats. A few days later an- 

 other lot may be started. Ordinarily two 

 boxes will be sufficient to keep a constant 

 supply on hand, about seven days being re- 

 quired to grow the oats to a size relished 

 by the felines. 



This plan of growing sprouted oats is 

 one which need by no means be confined 

 to the breeder of long-haired or valuable 

 pets, but may be adopted by anyone who 

 keeps cats and likes to have them look sleek 

 and well cared for. 



HOME DYES AND DYEING 



"TV/HEN the individual worker takes 



W pleasure in his work, beauty will 

 result," said William Morris more than 

 fifty years ago. He was speaking of the 

 conditions under which household articles 

 were produced in the factories of his time, 

 when each individual worker was only 

 permitted to do a small fraction of the 

 work to make the completed article under 

 conditions sordid and pitiable in the ex- 

 treme. 



The Arts and Craft Movement owing 

 its beginning to the enthusiastic efforts 

 to lift the creation of beautiful objects out 

 of the factory into the hands of workers 

 who are afforded opportunity to use their 

 brains as well as their hands, has never 

 ceased, since the memorable beginning 

 when William Morris and Edward Burn- 

 Jones entered the field of art in textiles 

 and house furnishings. Although each 

 made his greatest effort to start and keep 

 in active co-operation the principle ex- 

 pressed by William Morris we are appar- 

 ently as far as ever from the realization 

 of that ideal pleasure in work that the 

 medieval worker knew when weaving 

 tapestries, dyeing cloth or carving wood. 



Among the household industries that 

 of dyeing has much to offer to the home- 

 worker. Without the need of expensive 

 implements or materials it can be carried 

 on successfully in a farmhouse kitchen 

 or a town house. 



The things to know before attempting 

 the work are fortunately supplied to us 

 by the modern experiments in chemistry 

 and the application of common sense to 

 the task of creating beautiful borders in 

 color on fabrics of cotton, silk or linen, 

 or the complete transformation by means 

 of dyes, of fabrics of various kinds. 



Just why the various kinds of cloth 

 take the dye in varying degrees is also 

 explained by those expert in the art of 

 dyeing. To obtain successful results it 

 is wise to pay attention to the experi- 

 ments of others and profit by them, be- 

 fore attempting any very difficult task for 

 one's self. 



There are two distinct types of dye 

 stuffs : the natural dyes and the artificial 

 aniline or coal tar dyes, the former used 

 since the days of the ancients and the 

 latter comparatively new. 



The Tyrian purple so highly prized, 

 used as a sign of royalty and forbidden 

 to all but persons of the highest rank was 

 obtained a drop at a time from a shellfish 



