228 



AMERICAN HOMES AND GARDENS 



October, 1906 



mantel of Caen stone, and of the sixteenth-century style. 

 It was imported from Italy and when found it rested in an 

 old castle which is now used for a stable, and was black with 

 soot and stain. In the face is inscribed the following motto: 

 "Paciens Gloriabi Tur." The sideboard is an Italian piece 

 of the seventeenth century, with bronze heads and orna- 

 ments; the chairs are copies from old Naples designs, and 

 are covered with embroidered red velvet, and are orna- 

 mented with bronze heads of Satyrs on top. Upon the 

 walls are some rare pieces of tapestry. The doors are con- 

 cealed by being paneled in the wainscot. At one end of the 

 dining-room is a large French window overlooking the 

 garden. 



The old kitchen remains as in the original plan, but the 

 original butler's pantry is transformed into a lobby from 

 which access is obtained to the dining- and morning-rooms, 

 and kitchen. The butler's pantry, store-pantry and laundry 

 are enclosed in the new addition and each is fitted up with 

 all the best modern fixtures complete. 



The original plan of the second floor contained four bed- 

 rooms, bathroom and one servant's bedroom, while the 

 completed plan, as now shown, presents one extra suite, con- 

 taining one bedroom, dressing and bathroom and an extra 

 servant's bedroom and bath. 



The garden is quite the feature of this estate and is laid 



out in close relationship to the house which is built with all 

 its living-rooms facing it. One entrance to the sunken 

 garden is from the approach to the house, which has a 

 white painted gate and hood with a pergola effect, over 

 which are grapevines and climbing-roses. Near this en- 

 trance, and in front of the house is placed a sun-dial, with a 

 handsome pedestal. A brick-paved walk from this entrance 

 lands one at the rear porch, from which one may enter the 

 house. This porch is built in combination with the pergola, 

 on which are now being grown grapevines and wistaria. The 

 terrace-wall is covered with brick; the abutments to the steps 

 on either side are ornamented by old Italian olive-oil jars. 

 Stone steps descend from the terrace to the sunken garden 

 with its broad expanse of well-kept lawn, at the terminus of 

 which is a wall built in a semi-circular form and in .the 

 center formed by this circle is a pool, on the waters of which 

 are rare varieties of pond-lilies and lotus. 



To the right of the sunken garden, a short flight of stone 

 steps leads to the woods beyond. Flower-beds are built 

 along the terrace-walls, and are so planted that there is a 

 continual bloom from early spring till late in the autumn. 

 The garden, as well as the alteration to the house, was de- 

 signed by Mr. Piatt's brother, Mr. C. A. Piatt of New 

 York, and the whole scheme is characteristic of delightful 

 surroundings. 



To Preserve Cut Flowers 



LL ladies know that the life of cut flowers is 

 prolonged by periodically recutting the ex- 

 tremities of their stems (by preference slant- 

 wise and under the water), and by putting 

 a little charcoal into the water in which they 

 are placed. Certain specialists further rec- 

 ommended the addition to this water of various substances, 

 such as boric acid, salt, camphor, soapsuds, and chlorate of 

 ammonia. They advise also the burning of the extremities 

 of the stem, or sterilizing the same by immersion in alcohol 

 or some other antiseptic. All these methods are inspired by 

 the theoretical principle that it is of great importance to 

 assist the nutrition of the flower and to prevent putrefactive 

 fermentation, capable both of accelerating the decomposition 

 of the cells and of obstructing the tubes that convey the water 

 to the top of the stem. But hitherto no one has thought of 

 systematically studying the action of the various above- 

 mentioned methods. Messrs. Fourton and Ducarnet, pro- 

 fessors in the Ecole Nationale d' 'Agriculture at Rennes, have 

 begun a series of experiments on this subject, the first results 

 of which they have just announced. 



The experiments were on the following flowers: Violet, 

 celandine, iris, narcissus, aster, fumitory, myosotis, woodruff, 

 marguerite, syringa, catch-fly, snap-dragon, and primrose. 

 There was added to the preserving water, in various degrees 

 of concentration, mineral acids (hydrochloric, nitric, sul- 

 phuric) ; bases (soda, potash, ammonia, lead, etc.) ; salts 

 (of sodium, potassium, iron, lead, etc.) ; antiseptics (boric 

 acid, sublimate, sulphate of copper, etc.) ; wood charcoal; 

 organic matter (acetic, oxalic, tartaric, citric acid, alcohol, 

 glycerin, ether, soap, sugar, gum arabic, tannin, gelatin, cam- 

 phor, etc.). The wood charcoal aside, all the substances 

 hitherto recommended for the preservation of flowers and 

 mentioned above are unfavorable to that preservation, under 

 the conditions in which the experiments were carried out; to 

 wit, with bouquets of small size in comparison with the quan- 

 tity of water in which they were placed. Those bouquets, 

 indeed, were preserved without perceptible putrefaction, 



but the flowers became faded more quickly than those of the 

 bouquets placed in the pure water. Perhaps, in case the 

 bouquets were very large in comparison with the water for 

 their preservation these substances might have the advantage 

 of retarding the putrefaction. But, apart from that, they 

 are injurious to the preservation of the flowers. 



The substances newly tried that have appeared useful are: 



Organic matter, in quantities from one per cent to ten per 

 cent : chloral, sugar, glycerin, alcohol. 



Mineral substances, in very weak concentrations, a ten- 

 thousandth and less: lime water, potash, etherized water, 

 nitrate of potash, kainite, sulphate of potash, phosphate of 

 potash, phosphate of ammonia, chloride of calcium. 



The character of the most favorable substances varied 

 according to the flower. Caustic potash and lime water main- 

 tained the preservation of the primroses from fifteen to 

 twenty days; the myosotis lasted thirteen days in unchanged 

 water — seventeen days, the water changed daily; twenty-two 

 days in the water to which ten per cent of saccharose had 

 been added, etc. Finally, the duration of preservation is the 

 greater as the distance from the surface of the liquid to the 

 base of the flower is decreased; and, in the majority o.f cases, 

 it was noticed that it was useless to renew the water when 

 any substance whatever had been added to it. Messrs. Four- 

 ton and Ducarnet will continue their experiments. 



It is obvious that these experiments must yield interesting 

 and valuable practical results. Just what these are, and how 

 popularly applicable these preservative methods may be 

 adapted to household uses, it is yet too early to determine. 

 But the outlook is promising. Apart from the effect of 

 various substances which these experiments disclose they seem 

 to establish the fact that some one material will hardly be 

 available as a preservative. This fact, if it really be a fact, 

 will tend to diminish the utilization of such methods in the 

 household. But there are many general uses of cut flowers 

 where a definite preservative will find welcome use, and 

 where its help will be of the greatest possible value. — From 

 L' Illustration. 



