56 



AMERICAN HOMES AND GARDENS 



July, 1906 



SANITAS - 



The WASHABLE WALL COVERING 



#1T Every American home owner should know Sanitas. 

 73J It is the most satisfactory wall hanging made. It is 

 artistic, durable and absolutely cleanly. Its cloth founda- 

 tion gives it strength enough to stand the wear and tear 

 of everyday usage. Its surface is finished in oil paint 

 and affords no lodging place for dust and germs. It can 

 be kept clean with soap and water. Its designs and colors 

 are varied and beautiful enough to use in 

 any room of any home 



The Sanitas Department of Interior Decoration supplies suggestions 

 for wall treatment and samples free Write Dept. P for circulars 



STANDARD TABLE OILCLOTH COMPANY 



320 BROADWAY NEW YORK 



IT 



SYKES 



TWO BEST LATHS IN THE WORLD 





METAL LATH a ROOFING CO. NU iFs2 HO 



•BROOKSfiCo.(iE)(ELAND J 0- 



Floor&Sidewalk Lights, 



EVERY DESCRIPTION. 

 Send^Catalogue. 



Spring Painting 



Seasonable talk on Good Paint for the 

 Preservation of all classes of Metal and 

 Wood, is contained in the New Pamphlet 

 B-106. Write for free copy, Paint De- 

 partment, 



JOSEPH DIXON CRUCIBLE CO., Jersey City, N. J. 



surpass them in richness of color or freedom 

 of bloom. 



The decorative dahlia is doubtless a great 

 improvement in many respects over the old 

 type. Its flowers are far more graceful in 

 individual appearance and they show to much 

 better advantage on the plant. They are ex- 

 cellent for cutting. They last for days if 

 the water in which they are placed is fre- 

 quently changed. The single ones are pretty 

 and showy with their yellow disks, and so are 

 the cactus variety with their curious, twisted 

 petals. 



Starting dahlias indoors early in the sea- 

 son and transplanting them in June seldom 

 gave good results. To-day even at the north 

 the practice is to wait until the ground has 

 become thoroughly warm, and then to put the 

 roots into the beds where the plants are to 

 grow. The soil should be rich — very rich. 

 It should be made mellow to the depth of a 

 foot and a half and for at least that distance 

 on all sides of each plant. The secret of suc- 

 cessful dahlia culture is, in a sentence, rich 

 soil, and plenty of moisture at the roots. The 

 plant will advance steadily and rapidly if well 

 fertilized and if given all the water it needs. 

 Dahlias should be tied to stout stakes with 

 strips of cloth at least an inch in width, rather 

 than with strings, as the latter are liable to cut 

 into the soft stalks. 



THE LAWN 



By L. C. Corbett 



THE canvas of the architect and the land- 

 scape gardener is the lawn. It mat- 

 ters little whether the extent of the 

 lawn be great or small, its inherent qualities 

 are the same, and its intrinsic worth is de- 

 termined by its character and the manner in 

 which it is kept. Mother Earth ahhors rough 

 edges and broken places on her bosom, and 

 immediately proceeds to cover such ugly spots 

 with green grass. Man likes to get his feet 

 upon the soil, but better still upon the soft, 

 yielding greensward. Rich rugs and carpets 

 do not give the elastic spring that the well- 

 made and well-kept greensward yields. 



A lawn is the accompaniment of every ef- 

 fort on the part of man to beautify the sur- 

 roundings of his abiding place. The great in- 

 crease of interest in suburban and rural life 

 has caused a corresponding increase of inter- 

 est in matters pertaining to the making and 

 maintenance of lawns. Suburban railways, 

 the extension of electric lines into the country, 

 and the return of man to natural ways of liv- 

 ing are all factors contributing to the growing 

 interest in matters pertaining to lawn making. 



GENERAL CHARACTERISTICS OF LAWNS. 



The lawn should be useful and it should 

 at the same time be beautiful. Its beauty de- 

 pends upon the contour of the land, the color 

 and texture of the grass, and the uniformity 

 of the turf. The use of the lawn is to pro- 

 vide a suitable setting for architectural adorn- 

 ment and landscape planting. No effort 

 should be spared when working with small 

 areas to give the lawn the appearance of 

 great extent. The buildings should be kept 

 well back, the foundation not too high, and 

 the grading of the ground should be slightly 

 convex — that is, a gently convex, rolling sur- 

 face from the base of the foundation to the 

 street line — rather than concave. A convex 

 surface tends to give the effect of increased 

 area, while a concave surface seemingly 

 shortens distance. The extent of a lawn is 

 also amplified by preserving as large areas of 

 unbroken greensward as possible. This means 

 the use of trees and shrubs only upon borders 

 or margins of the lawn, rather than a pro- 

 miscuous scattering of them over the green- 

 sward. 



