GARDENS April, 1906 
Artc“Metal 
Ceilings 
Are Attractive 
Interiors 
Oo 
“CANTON 
Metal Art Plates 
are famous for their architectural features. Attract attention everywhere. 
Will not burn, crack or peel. No falling plaster to contend with. Once in 
place needs no repairing. Sanitary, and saves time and trouble. Low cost, 
considering the lasting qualities. Let us tell you more about them. Our beau- 
tiful book, ‘‘Art in Metal Ceilings,’’ shows the designs. Tell us you’ re interested. 
Gie CANTON STEEL ROOFING CO., Canton, Ohio 
New York Agency, 525 West 23d Street 
Important Notice 
At last America has a National Reference Work, in which North, South, 
East, West, Canada and South America have full and true representation. 
FTER years of patient labor and research and with ‘the 
co-operation of America’s foremost scholars and experts, 
The New AMERICANA 
stands as an achievement which has already met with the 
enthusiastic approval of the American people. It is now no 
longer necessary to consult foreign works of reference for infor- 
mation concerning American Biography, American History, 
American Industries, and our American Institutions. 
The AMERICANA is the work which the condition of 
affairs in the Encyclopedic world made necessary. Before ever 
a line was written for this great work the Jdea/ was set: A 
National Work—Universal in its information—American in its 
Production. 
The AMERICANA is distinctly a National Work. It is 
made by Americans. Every section of America has been called 
upon to contribute, and for the first time in a reference publica- 
tion North, South, East and West, Canada and South America 
have full and true representation. 
The AMERICANA is NEW FROM COVER TO 
COVER—new and beautiful type, new maps, new engravings 
and colored plates, new text illustrations, and, best of all, NEW 
AND ORIGINAL TREATMENT THROUGHOUT by 
the foremost 
American Expert Authorities. 
The AMERICANA is the work of a thoroughly organized body of skilled 
experts each selected for his special fitness and intimate knowledge of the subject assigred 
to him. These trained and progressive workers have struck out into new paths; they 
have proceeded upon an entirely new plan and that plan embodies the idea which has 
advanced our country to the front rank among the nations—the idea of reaching the core 
of things by the shortest method. This isthe American Plan. You'll catch the spirit of it 
as you turn the pages of the work and note its conciseness yet comprehensiveness, while 
the names of the eminent writers of the sizned articles are an ample assurance of accuracy and authoritativeness. The AMERICANA has 
commanded the services of so many distinguished educators, scholars and experts as to justify in the truest sense the title bestowed upon it— 
“America’s National System of Reference” 
“The treatment throughout is thoroughly 
American and conspicuously so in its wonder- 
ful compression. It goes straight to the core 
of each subject.”’ 
—EDGAR M. BARBER, C. P. A., “ pn ENED) SE v 
U.S. Treasury Dept. —ST. PAUL PIONEER PRESS. 
REQUEST BLANK 
FREE ON No mere advertisement can convey an adequate 
idea of the vast interest and immense utility of SCIENTIFIC AMERICAN COMPILING DEPT. 
REQUES I the AMERICANA, or of its exceptional 258 Fifth Ave., New York City 
value and sumptuous appearance. Let us send 
you therefore a handsome 120-page book.containing specimen pages, maps : 
; : : ; ’ eceive F Ry 20-pag e Spec 
full page plates, duo tones, color plates, and text illustrations with portraits of to receive FREE, your 120-page Book of Specimen 
celebrities, full-page photographic plates of the most interesting vi Pages, Maps, Duo Meer “ olor Plates, FOruraits; AS) 
and up-to-date subject The AMERICANA being the best iM of the NEW AMERIC AN A, with particulars of your 
illustrated efall Peferenca works Withithe obiectomniakinpies special low price advertising proposition. 
the Americana quickly and widely known, before placing the work in the 
hands of dealers for general distribution, we will accept orders direct ata 
large reduction from the established price. OCCUDaTLON= ear ceacvoresxanauacacersteneascestccaccehensntbeshansare 
hose interested are requested to make applica- SEND IN 
tionimmediately, The work is sold exclusively Street 
in connection with the Scientific Ameri- Act ONCE Tou varidl Seats 
can, and cannot be otherwise obtained. 
‘CUT OUT AND MAIL TO-DA 
“The work breathes the spirit of to-day 
even in the description of things ancient. It 
explores the dark corners of the past by the 
aid of the are light and radium.” 
Without obligating myself to purchase I would like 
Name 
NEW BOOKS 
Renaissance Architecture 
CHARACTER OF RENAISSANCE ARCHITEC- 
TURE. By Charles Herbert Moore. New 
York: The Macmillan Company. 1905. 
Pp. 270. Price, $3.00 net. Postage, 26 c. 
Several years ago Mr. Moore published a 
book on Gothic architecture in which he set 
forth the proposition that the only Gothic 
architecture was that produced within a cer- 
tain period of years and within the very limited 
area of the royal domain of France. His 
present volume deals with Renaissance archi- 
tecture in a somewhat similarly destructive 
spirit. But the Renaissance buildings do not 
emerge from his analysis in the same fortunate 
way that some of the Gothic buildings sur- 
vived. He at least reduced Gothic structures 
to a known number of examples. ‘The point 
of Mr. Moore’s study of Renaissance architec- 
ture is that it is absolutely devoid of consistent 
principles. He follows its story through Italy, 
France and England, and notes that while it 
assumes a great variety of phases at different 
times and in different localities, it was never 
either really classic or structurally truthful. 
It is but just to say that much of Mr. 
Moore’s contention is entirely right, but the 
great fact remains that the designing and the 
erection of the great buildings of the Renais- 
sance period gave great joy to their designers, 
to the persons for whom they were built and 
to all cultivated contemporaries; moreover, 
their charm and interest have continued to 
exist to the present day. Mr. Moore thinks 
the fine old architects of the Renaissance did 
not know how to reproduce the structural 
purity of Greek art. This is doubtless true, 
but they did some enormously fine things which 
will excite admiration so long as they or 
knowledge of them remain upon the earth. 
And this is more important than all the critical 
analysis that can be written upon them. Mr. 
Moore’s book is distinctly a book for archi- 
tects and for scholars. “The reader may not 
always agree with him in his deductions, but 
he will at least be set to thinking. 
Farm Buildings 
Farm Buitpincs. Chicago: Sanders Publish- 
ing Co. 1905. Pp. 185. 
No class of buildings has received so little 
attention from the thoughtful builder and de- 
signer as those of the farm. ‘The architect 
hardly considers them at all, unless he has 
been fortunate enough to obtain a commission 
for the buildings for an extensive country 
estate. The farm and its buildings have too 
long been left without the advantage of con- 
centrated study and skilled design, and any 
aid that will better this condition is to be cor- 
dially welcomed. ; 
Such, indeed, is this book, which in large 
part gives the experience of practical men. It 
covers a very wide range of subjects, and has 
chapters on the modern barn, general farm 
barns, cattle barns, horse barns and stables, 
dairy barns, seine barns and houses, sheep barns 
and sheds and poultry houses, together with 
a mass of miscellaneous notes and chapters on 
such subjects as cement and concrete work, 
cistern making, farm drainage systems, feed 
racks and troughs, gates and fences, water sup- 
ply, ventilation, etc. The book is filled with 
helpful hints of many kinds on a very wide 
range of subjects and will be found of great 
practical value by any one engaged in farm- 
ing, either upon a large or a small scale. 
