September, 1905 



AMERICAN HOMES AND GARDENS 



179 



foot of water in my frames, which had to be removed with a 

 force pump. This winter, when six feet of snow on top of 

 the frames vanished in a night, the frames were found dry 

 and safe, owing to a well constructed drain. 



Plants situated along the side of porches should be pro- 

 tected from the water dripping from the eaves, as well as 

 from the frost, by placing boards to shed the water. All 

 protection should be given with the plain fact in view that 

 it is given to prevent thawing more than freezing ; no amount 

 of protection will prevent the latter when the ground all 

 around is frozen, but it will prevent the cold winds reaching 

 the plants, and the sun shining on them when frozen, and, if 

 properly done, the settling of water around their roots. Dead 

 leaves, evergreen boughs and corn stalks are all excellent for 

 protection, the two last being preferable where plants with 

 evergreen leaves are to be protected, as pansies, carnations 

 and hollyhocks. Dead leaves are not good for these plants, 

 as they freeze around them — unless covered with boxes or 

 boards to shed moisture and keep them dry — and cause them 

 to decay. Evergreen boughs and corn stalks may be piled so 

 as to shed the rain or, where the clumps are isolated, loose 

 boxes — that is, boxes not air-tight, though calculated to shed 

 water — may be turned over and loosely filled with leaves. 

 Plants too tall to be covered should be wrapped with straw 

 and corn stalks ; a good way being to stand a few corn stalks 

 around the plants, their ends slanting out enough to shed rain, 

 and to weave the straw in and out through them or stand it 

 straight up, the corn stalks supporting it. Tie closely at the 

 top and more loosely further down. Altheas, though gen- 

 erally considered hardy all over the country, are doubtless 

 benefited by this much protection. The severe winter of 

 1 898-1 899 killed every althea in this vicinity, which would 

 not have been the case had they been protected, I think. My 

 own. which on previous winters were cared for, were neg- 

 lected, owing to my absence in the city, and succumbed with 

 the rest, and I shall never risk one unprotected again. 



Plants on the east side of the house protected by a wing 

 or building on the north rarely need protection ; while plants 

 on the west require special care. All climbing roses, clematis 

 and similar vines will be greatly benefited by having sacking, 

 old carpet or even straw matting tacked over them. This 

 should come well down over their stems and be united with 

 root covering, or the frost may cut them off below the shield. 

 The Boston ivy, which is difficult to establish in our bleak 

 North, may be successfully grown by observing this pre- 

 caution. 



Window boxes should be looked over, and those containing 

 geraniums and plants that will live over winter consigned to 

 the cellar, while annuals should be removed, the boxes cleaned 

 and stored in a dry place, ready for spring. 



This is also a good time to visit the marshes for cattails, 

 which make excellent stakes for house plants, especially for 

 fresias and carnations, and whose supports are always much 

 in evidence; every reed, if cut low, will give two or three 

 supports, round, smooth and sightly. 



Boxes of compost should also be provided for winter pot- 

 ting, as lack of earth for this purpose is often very annoying. 

 Dry sand also will be needed, and material for drainage — 

 charcoal, broken shards and moss. 



Pots should be given a good scalding with strong soap- 

 suds, as the use of old and dirty pots is a fruitful source of 

 insect pests in the window garden. See that the glass of the 

 cold frames is air and water tight, and provide some sort of 

 water-proof protection in the form of old rugs or mats for 

 severe weather, as it is easier to attend to this while the 

 weather is pleasant than in the midst of a howling blizzard. 

 And while all these various precautions seem a great deal of 

 trouble to take, they are really but little if taken in time; and 

 one is apt to congratulate themselves during the rest of the 

 winter over the forethought that makes peace — as far, at 

 least, as the garden was concerned — possible and the spring 

 work so much easier. 



Science for the Home 



Plumbing on the Farm 



HERE is probably no class of people who, on 

 the whole, so deliberately neglect plumbing 

 problems as presented in the house as the 

 farmer. And it might also be said that few 

 people need the plumber more and need him 

 greatly. It is but fair to point out, however, 

 that the farmer is not wholly to blame in this neglect. If he 

 avoids the convenience and value of a plumbing installation 

 in his house it is more apt to be through ignorance of what 

 to do, where to obtain the apparatus, and, above all, dread 

 of the cost involved, than from any real or studied indif- 

 ference to the subject. 



It may well be questioned if the lack of plumbing facilities 

 on the farm is not more due to the indifference with which 

 the farmer is regarded as a purchaser by the plumber than 

 from any views the farmer may have on the subject. Most 

 large businesses of the present day have been built up through 

 the energy with which their products have been brought to 

 market. The man who lands a customer is apt to value him 

 more highly than the chance purchaser, because the former 

 represents a direct return on the necessary effort to obtain 

 him, and because he also knows that the chance customer 

 would not come along had he not been influenced by some 

 effort, perhaps then impossible to trace. 



The farmer is a difficult class to reach in any line of manu- 

 factured goods, because he is so widely distributed that the 

 concentrated trade possible in crowded districts is out of the 

 question. It would seem, however, that the field for the 



extension of plumbing sales among the farmers was so large 

 that it might profitably be cultivated by the plumber and 

 dealer in plumbing supplies. 



The farmer is a large user of water, for no farming opera- 

 tions can be carried on without it. The installation of a 

 water plant for farm purposes — for use in the market house 

 and barn — is, therefore, one of the first essentials to success- 

 ful farming. This, however, should be but the first step, 

 for a water plant that gives runnng water in the barn can 

 afford the same facility in the kitchen at small additional ex- 

 pense. No farm wife need be told of the superior merits of 

 running water in her kitchen over the old-fashioned well, or 

 the hardly less archaic hand pump. The latter has, of course, 

 some conveniences over the former, but it entails weary 

 work and adds a quite unnecessary burden to the many labors 

 that fall to the wife on the farm. 



But assuming that running water has been brought into 

 the farm kitchen, the question may well be asked, Why 

 stop there? Why not a bathroom; why not a separate bath- 

 room for the men help ? Why not shower baths and all the 

 conveniences that modern plumbing has brought to a rela- 

 tively high degree of efficiency? All these things should fol- 

 low as a matter of course, and no doubt would do so could the 

 farmer be convinced as to their utility and be satisfied that 

 their installation would not cripple his financial resources. 

 The latter point is apt to have more weight than the former. 

 There is unquestionably a large field for business in this 

 direction. 



