XVIil 
AMERICAN HOMES AND GARDENS 
May, 1912 
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URAL GUANG 
Soe ILLS 
Sheep’s Head Brand 
PULVERIZED 
Sheep Manure 
Nature’s Own Plant Food. Ideal for all crops ; 
especially adapted for lawns, golf courses and 
estates. Growers of nursery stock, small fruits, 
hedges and gardeners generally will find Sheep's 
Head Brand the best fertilizer. Contains large 
percentage of Humus and all fertilizing substances 
necessary to promote Plant life. Tests place it 
far ahead of chemical or other fertilizers. Readily 
applied to the soil. Let us quote you prices. 
Send for our book, “ Fertile Facts” 
Tells how to fertilize the soil so that productive crops may be 
raised. Special matter for lawn and market gardeners, Florists, 
Nurserymen and Farmers. Sent FREE if you mention 
agazine. 
NATURAL GUANO COMPANY 
Dept. 10 , 301 Montgomery Avenue, Aurora, Ill. 
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Quitting 
HIS looks like a dangerous way to quit work, but the man 
who must travel the streets of a city in going to and from 
his work is in more actual danger than this man _ be- 
cause most accidents are caused by the carelessness of others. 
This man’s safety depends upon himself, the chain and the en- 
iiniiiiiniininiiiiiiiiiIIm (ccc ccc CMTC We 
Fountain in the Gardenof Mr. J.B.VanVorst, Hackensack, N.J. 
OU can enhance the charm and beauty of your garden by the f 
addition of an artistic fountain, reproduced from an Old World § 
masterpiece or modeled from an original design. 
We make them large or small to meet all requirements. Our § 
profusely illustrated catalogue shows them in wide variety, likewise 
enches, vases, boxes, sundials, mantels and hall furniture. Sen 
for it to- "day. 
The ERKINS STUDIO: of Ornamental Stones 
230 Lexington Ave., New York; Factory, Astoria, L. I. 
New York Selling Agents—Ricceri Florentine Terra Cotta 
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Work 
gineer, but the safety of the man on the street depends upon a 
thousand and one circumstances over which he has no control. 
For every man the only sensible thing is an accident insurance 
policy protecting himself in case of injury and protecting his 
family in case of death. There are no other accident policies 
equal to those issued by the TRAVELERS. 
Insure in the TRAVELERS 
MORAL: 
The Travelers Insurance Company 
HARTFORD, CONN. 
Please send me particulars regarding ACCIDENT INSURANCE, 
Occupation 
Business Address 
The Largest Manufacturers 
ATT 
OLD WOODWORK 
HOMES 
By EDWARD M. THURSTON 
RCHITECTS and builders, a cen- 
tury or more ago, placed the greatest 
importance upon various minor details 
which are overlooked or ignored by most 
modern architects and the arch-enemy. 
the speculative builder, with whom thev 
are very often in league, Perhaps the 
very vastness of present-day building op- 
erations and the amazing rapidity with 
which apartment-houses are erected, or 
with which a tract of suburban land is 
“plotted” and covered with cottages fe> 
sale or rent, precludes the careful plan- 
ning and designing of such structural ac- 
cessories as mantels, door and window- 
frames, stair balusters and newels, and 
transoms over doors. 
The study of detail in connection with 
these smaller particulars of architecture 
is just the point wherein the builders of 
a former period excelled and the wood- 
work of almost any very old building 
shows the care and thought which were 
devoted to what many modern architects 
are willing should take care of itself. 
This is particularly true of the old resi- 
dences at Salem, Deerfield, Annapolis 
and elsewhere, for while much of this 
woodwork was produced by carpenters or 
shipbuilders, who, it would seem, had 
very little architectural training, their 
careful study of the designing of Wren, 
Gibbon and the Adam brothers produced 
results of surprising excellence. The 
older cities and towns of America yet 
contain much of their work, notwith- 
standing the continual pulling down and 
building up which is one of the charac- 
teristics of this restless and progressive 
age. Vast quantities of old work have 
been destroyed, however, before the con- 
stant march of improvement, and with 
the removal of old buildings often comes 
an opportunity for the discriminating 
architect or decorator, or for the home- 
builder, to secure for almost nothing 
woodwork which may be and frequently 
is built into new homes elsewhere. In 
every large city there are second-hand 
lumber yards into which is carted mate- 
rial from old buildings. The brick is 
cleaned or stripped of mortar and sold 
‘for the filling in of new outer walls or 
for the building of thin interior parti- 
tions which must be of fireproof mate- 
rial. The flooring and heavier timbers 
are often used again, and much of the 
interior woodwork is in such condition 
that it is merely refinished and placed in 
new buildings. 
A visit to one of these old junk yards 
might be of interest to the man or woman 
who is building a new home or remodel- 
ing one already built, or to any one who 
has the “collector’s instinct,’ which is 
apt to lead him into the most unpromis- 
ing fields. One of these lumber yards is 
in a dreary part of lower New York, not 
far from the East River. Here has been 
brought much débris from old houses 
which have been dismantled, and strewn 
around may be found a bewildering as- 
sortment of old mantels of wood or mar- 
ble beautifully carved, whole entrance 
doorways with carefully designed col- 
umns and pilasters, fanlights or side 
panels of leaded glass, and even the iron 
rails and wrought-iron newels which 
were often placed at the entrances to 
New York houses a century ago. Here, 
too, may be found an endless variety of 
interior woodwork, door and window 
trim faultlessly carved, heavy paneled 
IN MODERN 
